Jannik Sinner saves five match points before beating Pablo Carreno Busta in three-set thriller at Miami Open

ByJames Kilpatrick

Published 28/03/2022 at 07:24 GMT

Miami Open 2021 finalist Jannik Sinner survived an almighty scare against Pablo Carreno Busta on Sunday, but he came out on top in a three-set epic which saw the Italian save five match points. Sinner will now play Nick Kyrgios in the next round. Sinner and Kyrgios were set to play each other in the round of 16 at Indian Wells earlier this month, but the Italian withdrew due to illness.

Jannik Sinner is through to the last-16 of the Miami Open after beating Pablo Carreno Busta 5-7 7-5 7-5.

Neither player were at their sparkling best in the early stages of the match, but it turned into a thrilling three-hour, 11-minute duel which saw Sinner save five match points before producing a remarkable victory.

Sinner, who already had to save three match points to beat Emil Ruusuvuoiri in his opening match, is now 5-0 in deciding sets in 2022. He will play Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the next round.

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Sinner was not serving well and made too many unforced errors early on. Carreno Busta secured an early break to go 2-0 up as Sinner struck a forehand inside the baseline into the net.

After a sluggish start, both players stepped up their games Sinner was able to break back to make it 3-2 with Carreno Busta double-faulting.

The Italian took the lead for the first time in the match with a vicious forehand winner down the line to move within a game of the first set. But Carreno Busta clawed it back to 5-5 with back-to-back winners.

It looked as if the first set was destined for a tie-break but Carreno Busta was able to earn himself two set points on Sinner's serve. He took the second one and let out a fist pump as Sinner fired long - his 15th unforced error - to close out the 65 minute set.

Sinner struggled to get into a rhythm with his first serve letting him down but he went toe-to-toe with Carreno Busta in an attritional second set which saw the Spaniard squander break points in the fourth and sixth games.

Carreno Busta could not convert his first match point and Sinner held his serve before roaring back in style, winning eleven points in a row to take the contest to a decider.

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The third set saw Carreno Busta move into a 4-2 lead and it looked as the though the Spaniard would go on to win the match at 5-4 up.

But remarkably Sinner saved four match points before breaking the world No. 17 and then won the match on his second match point with a forehand winner.

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