Juan Martin del Potro might be the favourite to take home the Miami Open presented by Itau title this weekend. But don't sleep on Kevin Anderson, who's having one of the best starts to 2018 of anyone on the ATP World Tour.
The South African improved to 17-4 on Tuesday, beating #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe 7-6(3), 6-4 to make his fifth quarter-final of the season. Anderson hit 22 winners and broke the 20-year-old home favourite three times.
Tiafoe was playing, technically, for the third time on Tuesday. His third-round match against Tomas Berdych was suspended because of rain at 2:13 a.m. Tuesday, with Tiafoe leading the 2010 finalist 6-7(2), 6-2, 5-4.
They returned to the court about 13 hours later, at 3 p.m., when Tiafoe advanced to the fourth round 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(1). But the Delray Beach Open champion couldn't pull off two wins in one day. He lost the final four points of the first-set tie-break, and he was broken while serving at 4-4 in the second set.
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Anderson has started his year by reaching finals in Pune (l. to Simon), New York (d. Querrey) and Acapulco (l. to Del Potro). The No. 8 player in the ATP Rankings made the quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells before falling to Croatia's Borna Coric in three sets.
Anderson will be looking for redemption in South Florida after falling short of his first Masters 1000 semi-final in the Coachella Valley. He is 0-9 in Masters 1000 quarter-finals and will next face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who reached his second Masters 1000 quarter-final (2017 Indian Wells) by beating countryman Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-3 in 85 minutes. Carreno Busta saved six of seven break points and improved to 3-1 against his 34-year-old compatriot in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.
Carreno Busta, No. 19 in the ATP Rankings, made it one round farther during his 2017 BNP Paribas Open, reaching the semi-finals before falling to Stan Wawrinka. Anderson leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-0, which includes a victory earlier this month at Indian Wells.