Miami Open 2024 Day 1 Recap

The 2024 Miami Open is underway, and the bottom half of the draw were the first to complete their round of 128 matches on Wednesday.

Andy Murray vs Matteo Berrettini was the match of the day on Stadium Court. Murray delivered a typical drama-filled performance. He was outplayed in the first set but hit back in the second thanks to the ailing Berrettini and then came through the third as the stronger man physically.

Elsewhere, the matchups weren’t anything to write home about, but one story was Darwin Blanch playing his first tour-level match thanks to a wildcard. The 16-year-old, who could pass as Ben Shelton’s younger brother, is already serving at 120 mph+.

While beaten comfortably by Machac, he did break in the opening game and showed glimpses of high-quality play, so he could be one to watch over the next few months.

You can see the full day one results below and select highlights.

Day One 2024 Miami Open Round of 128 Results

Murray Blunts Berrettini

Andy Murray needs all the help he can get these days to win matches at the Masters 1000 level, and he got a massive dose of that, thanks to Matteo Berrettini pulling up lame mid-way through the match.

The Italian has been struggling with injury lately and hasn’t played on tour since last year’s US Open. He also had some physical matches at the Phoenix Challenger last week, which appeared to take their toll in Miami.

After winning the first set thanks to his booming first serve, the Italian nearly passed out when serving at 2-5 in the second set, using his racket as a crutch to prevent himself from falling over. Dehydration? The experts are baffled!

Murray captured that set and was the stronger player in the third as his court craft proved too much. Having the luxury of dominating with his forehand, the Brit won virtually all the longer baseline rallies. And barring a little bit of late resilience in the final few games, Berrettini had little left to offer, as his movement was way below par.

It was obviously a great win for me. I started off a bit slow, but I think I played pretty well from the middle of the first set until the end of the match. I created many opportunities, and he struggled for a bit at the end of the second and the beginning of the third. I capitalised on that and got off to a quick start in the third. I served it out well in the end. Murray on his win over the ailing Berrettini.

Arnaldi Foils Fils

Matteo Arnaldi is part of an up-and-coming crop of young Italian players, and he swept aside Arthur Fils, 6-3, 6-4, with a dominant display.

Arnaldi dropped just eight points on serve throughout the match, and his game has a lot of upside, as we saw last year on clay when he beat Fritz in Los Cabos last month and against Alcaraz in Indian Wells.

I found it particularly interesting as I’ve watched Fils closely after the ATP recently produced a video showing the athletic capabilities of the ‘next-gen’ in which the Frenchman came out top in every physical test. 

However, the results of the other players who also took part in the tests are far superior, highlighting just how big a part of tennis is between the ears and hand/eye skills.

For example, Alex Michelsen was last in most of the tests, yet he’s scoring much bigger wins, proving it’s not really about how high you can jump from a standing start or how fast you are over 20 metres.

Other Matches of Note

Miami Open Day 2 Round of 128 Matches