MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Daniil Medvedev never gave Andy Murray a chance.
The top-seeded Medvedev opened his bid to reclaim the No. 1 ranking Saturday by topping Murray 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Miami Open. Medvedev never faced a break point in any of his nine service games.
He can regain the No. 1 spot by making the Miami semifinals.
“Definitely, I have a lot of motivation to try and get it back,” Medvedev said.
Only five men in the past 18 years have held the No. 1 ranking that is currently held by Novak Djokovic. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are also past No. 1’s — while Medvedev and Murray are the others. Murray was No. 1 from November 2016 through August 2017, and that distinction was handed off between Djokovic, Federer and Nadal since before Medvedev got there for the first time on Feb. 28.
Medvedev’s stay was brief; his three-week reign ended officially on Monday when Djokovic returned to the top of the rankings. But with three more wins in Miami, Medvedev would be back on top.
“I still felt like in the rallies and stuff I could hang with him, and I didn’t feel like from the back of the court I was getting like really outplayed,” said Murray, who got into Miami on a wild card and is continuing his comeback after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery. “I’m sure some people will think otherwise.”
Murray is a two-time Miami Open winner, those victories coming at the tournament’s former home in nearby Key Biscayne. His loss meant only one past Miami men’s winner remains in the field — that being defending champion Hubert Hurkacz, the No. 8 seed who defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (5), 6-2 and moved into the third round.
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka moved into the fourth round without ever taking the court. Osaka — the former women’s No. 1-ranked player who got straight-set wins on Wednesday and Thursday to get into Round 3 — got a walkover victory Saturday when Karolina Muchova withdrew citing a need for recovery.
“I’m sad that I cannot put up a battle against Naomi today,” Muchova wrote on Twitter. “After a long break from tennis, 2 tough matches in row have been a lot for my body and I need longer to recover.”
Muchova missed about seven months because of an abdominal injury and hadn’t played since the US Open before returning in Miami. She recorded straight-set wins over Tereza Martincova and Leylah Fernandez in Miami, but neither was easy — three of the four sets went to tiebreaks and she spent nearly five hours on the court.
Osaka topped No. 13 Angelique Kerber in the second round and won’t have to face another seed until at least the quarterfinals. The earliest No. 22 seed Belinda Bencic could see one is in the semifinals; Bencic, one of only three seeds — out of a possible 16 — to make the third round on the top half of the draw, rolled past Heather Watson 6-4, 6-1.
“It depends on me, how I play, how I feel,” Bencic said. “I’m not always looking at the draw so I have no idea what’s going on.”
Another seeded third-round winner on the women’s side was Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins of the US The No. 9 seed played through some neck soreness and downed Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4.
A number of men’s seeds were beaten in their second-round matches Saturday, including No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 23 Karen Khachanov, No. 24 Daniel Evans, No. 27 Christian Garin and No. 32 Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sebastian Korda of the US saved a match point on the way to topping Ramos-Vinolas 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Tommy Paul of the US got the upset over Khachanov, winning 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). Paul improved to 14-7 on the year and will next meet No. 11 Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked American. Fritz — coming off a win at Indian Wells, even after injuring an ankle — needed three sets to beat qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin on Saturday.
“I was a little worried about my ankle,” Fritz said. “I have been definitely kind of holding back in practice the last couple of days, kind of just went once a day, took it easy. Today it felt great, honestly. It’s getting better and better every day.”
Other seeded men’s winners included No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 25 Alex De Minaur and No. 29 Aslan Karatsev.
Medvedev, eyeing No. 1 ranking, tops Murray at Miami Open
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Medvedev, eyeing No. 1 ranking, tops Murray at Miami Open
- Only five men in the past 18 years have held the No. 1 ranking that is currently held by Novak Djokovic
Gooch, Detry and Uihlein share lead at halfway stage in Riyadh
- Smash GC lead the team competition at LIV Golf Riyadh with score of 30-under
RIYADH: Three shots separate the top 13 players after 36 holes here for the LIV Golf season opener.
The competition shifted up a gear for the second round of the Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh 2026, as the world’s best continued to battle under the lights, with cooler and windier conditions in round two.
With the event reaching its midway point, the leaderboard has begun to take shape, setting the stage for a high-stakes weekend in the Saudi capital.
Talor Gooch (Smash GC) has joined overnight leaders Thomas Detry (4Aces GC) and Peter Uihlein (RangeGoats GC) after Thursday night’s round, carding a consecutive five-under 67 to move to 10-under for the tournament with 36 holes to play.
Sitting one back from the leaders on nine-under after carding an under-four 68 in round two, Sebastian Munoz (Torque GC) reflected on his round: “It started a bit slow with a bogey on No. 2. I hit a bad bunker shot.
“Then after that I made some good birdies and kept it moving along. The wind came over, and I was able to kind of keep my focus and keep hitting good shots and keep giving myself good chances, and made some birdies on the back.
“Then I made some solid pars coming in. So really happy where the game is at.”
Meanwhile, first-round co-leader Detry remained firmly in the hunt, following up his opening 65 with a steady three-under 69 as he continues to embrace the atmosphere on course.
“Got off to a pretty shaky start. It was a bogey-free round yesterday, but today I felt a little uncomfortable early on. I managed to sort of settle the ship then with two birdies on holes No. 4 and 5, and then just fought hard.
The temperature sort of dropped after nine holes and the wind picked up, as well. I wasn’t really expecting that. It was sort of a bit of a fight out there, which was nice. I like it.”
“I was sort of out there taking care of my business, and suddenly I saw the leaderboard with the 4Aces GC popping up, and that sort of reminded me that I was also playing for the team, which is great.”
After shooting a five-under 67 for the second time in his two rounds Gooch commented: “Yeah, it was a really solid day. Really good ball control. The only bogey made was a three-putt from about 15 feet (4.5 meters).
“Made life really simple today. Hit a bumping of greens, gave myself some good looks and made a few. These are the type of days of golf that you wish you could have more of.”
On his first experience as captain of Smash GC, he said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year through the first two rounds. We’ve still got a lot of golf left, so we’ve got to go and continue to play great.
“But like I said, I couldn’t have predicted or hoped for a better start. It’s a great start, and hopefully we can continue going and just set the tone for a great year after this first week.”
Gooch’s Smash GC teammate Jason Kokrak fired a bogey-free eight-under to storm the leaderboard and get within two shots of the leaders. “It was really good. Got into a couple sticky situations but made a couple of nice par saves,” he said.
“Got hot for about a nine- or 10-hole stretch. Drove the ball very nicely. Way better than yesterday. So very pleased with how I played.”
Uihlein is eager to bring his fine form into the weekend after shooting a three-under 69 in round two. When asked about the potential of bringing home his first LIV Golf trophy, he said: “Yeah, it would be awesome.
“That’s what we want to do. We want to win individually. We want to win as a team. But winning individually? Yeah, that’s what the goal is, to win.
“Now that we get world ranking points, you can jump up in the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) and try to get in the majors. That’s definitely the goal.”
In the team standings, Smash GC (-30) took a commanding lead after those low scores from Kokrak and Gooch. Torque GC (-27) and 4Aces GC (-23) stay firmly in the race for the podium with all four player scores counting for all four rounds this season.
Round 2 – Individual Leaderboard:
1 – Talor Gooch (Smash GC) | R2 (-5) - After R2 (-10)
1 – Peter Uihlein (RangeGoats GC) | R2 (-3) - After R2 (-10)
1 – Thomas Detry (4Aces GC) | R2 (-3) - After R2 (-10)
Round 1 – Team Leaderboard:
1 – Smash GC (-30)
2 – Torque GC (-27)
3 – 4Aces GC (-23)
