Alcaraz, Upset by Goffin, Exits Early in the Second Round at Miami

Just hours after Daniil Medvedev's early exit in his opening match at the Miami Masters 1000, another top seed suffered a premature defeat in Florida, and not just any player. Indeed, Carlos Alcaraz, the world number 3 and the tournament's second seed, was defeated in the second round by David Goffin (5-7, 6-4, 6-3).

The match had started perfectly for Alcaraz, who managed to dig deep to win the first set after being down 4-3 with a break. The Spaniard then won four of the last five games of the set to take the lead.

However, too inconsistent in this match (36 winners, 42 unforced errors, 8 aces, and 2 double faults), Alcaraz failed to capitalize. Facing an experienced opponent with nothing to lose, as Goffin himself had explained before the match, the Belgian remained solid, and Alcaraz failed to secure a single break point in the last two sets.

Goffin, opportunistic, seized his chances to sow doubt in his opponent's mind. In the end, the world number 55 achieved one of the finest feats of his career, defeating Carlos Alcaraz for the second time in three encounters.

In their last face-off in Astana three years ago, Goffin had already eliminated Alcaraz, but in straight sets at the time. After his opening victory against Vukic, the 34-year-old player has opened up his path slightly and will face Brandon Nakashima for a spot in the round of 16.

This marks Goffin's 8th victory against a top 3 player since the start of his career. As for Alcaraz, he falls from a great height, having reached at least the quarterfinals in the last three editions of Miami.

Having won his first Masters 1000 at this very tournament in 2022 and reaching the quarterfinals last year, Alcaraz will now lose some ranking points and misses the opportunity to close the gap with Jannik Sinner, the defending champion who will lose the 1000 points from last year's title at the end of the tournament.