Thompson and Walton lift Aussies in Miami

Australia's Jordan Thompson and Adam Walton both moved into the Round of 32 at the Miami Open on Sunday (AEDT) with solid straight sets wins, but both face tough encounters in their next round matches.

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After an Aussie wipeout on Saturday, the pair lifted the spirits of the Down Under contigent significantly by moving forward at the ATP 1000 tournament.

Thompson dumped out No.28 seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard from France via two tiebreaks, winning 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-1), but the 30-year-old from Sydney will come up against the No.1 seed and world No.2 Alexander Zverev in the next round.

Zverev made history by winning his match against Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley 6-2 6-4, a vcitory that made him the sole German male with the most ATP 1000 wins.

Thompson, though, can pull confidence from the fact that he has a 2-2 head-to-head with Zverev and has beaten him twice on hard courts, most recently in the semi-final at Los Cabos last year, where Thompson went on to beat Casper Ruud for the title.

Thompson, ranked No.37 in the world, also beat Zverev in straight sets in Tokyo in 2023, but lost out to Ben Shelton in the Round of 16 there.

For Walton, who is in the main draw in Miami as a lucky loser, his victory over Luciano Darderi in their first meeting has put him on a collision course with giantkiller Coleman Wong.

While the Hong Kong wild card is currently ranked No.182 in the world – Walton is almost 100 places higher at No.89 – Wong comes into the clash off the back of a huge upset over American Ben Shelton, the No.13 seed, whom he beat 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 7-6 (7-5).

That victory makes Wong the lowest ranked male to reach the third round in Miami in a decade, and he had already made history in the previous round by beating Daniel Altmaier, making him the first player from Hong Kong to win a Masters 1000 match.

Walton and Wong have yet to meet on the professional circuit, so it is sure to be an interesting clash.

Alexi Popyrin was also in action in the second round, but having claimed the opening set 7-6 (7-4) against Russian Roman Safiullin, the Sydneysider lost the next two 6-3 7-5 to bow out of the tournament.