Tommy Paul could be one of the big beneficiaries of Carlos Alcaraz losing early at the Miami Open this year.
Paul has reached the quarterfinals of the Miami Open for the first time after beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1, 6-3.
The American is in the same half of the draw as Alcaraz, who suffered a shock defeat to Sebastian Korda in the third round.
There has been a huge reaction to this, with even Jannik Sinner commenting on Alcaraz’s exit, and now Paul has shared what the reaction was like amongst the ATP locker room.
Tommy Paul suggests everyone sensed an opportunity when Carlos Alcaraz lost
Following Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz’s exits from the Miami Open, there are now no longer any top 10 players in the top half of the men’s singles draw.
This means that one of Paul, Jiri Lehecka, Arthur Fils or qualifier Martin Landaluce will reach their first Masters 1000 final in Miami.
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When asked about Alcaraz’s exit from the tournament, Paul admitted that he and everyone else in the draw sensed somewhat of an opportunity.
Paul also spoke about his upcoming quarterfinal with Fils, who he called one of his favorite players to watch on the ATP Tour.
“When you see a guy like Carlos go down, I think everyone kind of thinks it [they have an opportunity] a little bit,” Paul said, as reported by miamiopen.com. “At least that part of the draw has somewhat opened up. But somebody had to beat Carlos, and they’re obviously playing pretty good also.
“I really just take it one match at a time. I knew in the last round I had to worry about [Raphael Collignon]; today I had to worry about Tomy [Etcheverry], and tomorrow I got to worry about Fils.
“He’s one of my favorite players to watch. He’s electric, he’s super athletic and a really, really good player, and he’s young, like 21. He’s an exciting player, and I know it’s going to be a tough match. And if I play anything like I did today, we’ll have a great match.”
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Paul and Fils now have an opportunity to reach their first semifinal at the Miami Open, as they prepare to play just their second ever meeting.
The only other time they played was at the Shanghai Masters in 2023, when Fils was just 19 years old.
Experience showed on that occasion, as Paul beat Fils 6-4, 6(7)-7, 6-4 in a close-fought three set match.
A lot has happened for both players since then, particularly Fils, who recently returned from a back injury that kept him out of competition for seven months.
Both players will now be sensing their opportunity to reach their first ever final at Masters 1000 level in Miami.
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