Tuesday at the Miami Open was supposed to be about the favorites holding their ground. Jannik Sinner kept his Sunshine Double push alive, Coco Gauff reached her first Miami semifinal, and Karolina Muchova continued her strong run.
But the day’s biggest jolt came from a Spanish qualifier few expected to still be standing this deep into the tournament. Martin Landaluce, ranked No. 151 in the world, saved a match point and stunned Sebastian Korda 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. ATP Tour said Landaluce became the lowest-ranked men’s quarterfinalist in Miami since 1994.
Landaluce’s run had already become one of the best surprise stories in the men’s draw before Tuesday, but this was the result that pushed it into the center of the tournament. The 20-year-old Spaniard was on the brink late in the second set against Korda, then held his nerve, erased the danger, and flipped the match.
His quarterfinal place is even more striking because ATP Tour reported that he had been close to missing the main draw altogether, trailing by a set and a break in the final round of qualifying before turning that around too.
Sinner still did what title favorites are supposed to do, even if he had to work for it. The Italian beat Alex Michelsen 7-5, 7-6(4), recovering from 2-5 down in the second set to close out the match in straight sets.
ATP Tour said the win extended Sinner’s Masters 1000 sets streak to 28, while Reuters noted that he remains on course to become the first man since Roger Federer in 2017 to complete the Indian Wells and Miami sweep in the same season.
That combination of control and escape is part of what makes Sinner so dangerous right now. He is not just winning clean matches when everything is working. He is also surviving difficult ones without letting the draw open the door.
At this point in the tournament, his pursuit of the title feels less like a possibility and more like the central story on the ATP side, even with Landaluce suddenly forcing his way into the conversation.
On the women’s side, Gauff delivered one of the day’s biggest marquee wins by defeating Belinda Bencic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to reach her first Miami Open semifinal. WTA said Gauff had to recover from a third-set deficit before finishing strongly, turning what looked like a match slipping away into a breakthrough run at her home event.
Muchova joined her in the semifinals with a 7-5, 7-6(5) win over Victoria Mboko. WTA reported that Muchova saved a set point in the second set and repeated the same straight-sets result she posted against Mboko in the Doha final last month. The Czech has moved through Miami with the kind of calm, measured shotmaking that can make her a serious threat late in big tournaments.
Another American storyline remained alive as Hailey Baptiste’s breakout run continued. Baptiste beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-4 to reach the first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career, and WTA noted that the win set up a quarterfinal meeting with Aryna Sabalenka. In a tournament that has already produced plenty of expected names in the late rounds, Baptiste has added an extra layer of unpredictability to the women’s draw.
What March 24 really did was sharpen the tournament’s identity. Sinner remains the main force on the men’s side, but Landaluce gave the event its purest upset of the day and the kind of underdog run that can suddenly change the emotional shape of a Masters 1000.
On the women’s side, Gauff’s home breakthrough and Muchova’s steady rise have set up a semifinal with real weight. Miami is now down to its decisive stretch, and the stories feel bigger than just the scores.
