Miami Open: Yuki Bhambri defeats Mirza Basic in straight sets, faces 8th seed Jack Sock in second round

India’s Yuki Bhambri continued his impressive run on the hardcourts of North America, defeating Mirza Basic 7-5, 6-3 in the opening round of Miami Open. [caption id=“attachment_4402663” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Yuki Bhambri of India. Reuters[/caption] Bhambri took an hour and 34 minutes to get past Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Basic, who had lost in qualifying but had secured a berth in the main draw as the lucky loser. Bhambri converted five of the 13 break point opportunities that he created in the match and only dropped his own serve twice. The 25-year-old Indian next faces World No 11 Jack Sock in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament. Bhambri had entered the main draw of Miami Open by beating Renzo Olivo and Elias Ymer in straight sets in two rounds of qualifying. Since turning professional, Bhambri has played Sock once before at an ATP Challenger event in 2013, and the Indian had won that clash 6-7(10), 7-5, 6-3. Bhambri is currently ranked 107 in the world and if he wins his second round on Friday, he has a chance of returning to the top-100 of ATP rankings. He is enjoying a rich vein of form in the past few weeks — Bhambri came through qualifying at the Indian Wells Masters and then notched his first Masters 1000 career victory when he defeated Nicholas Mahut. He then upset World No 10 Lucas Pouille in the second round before eventually losing to American Sam Querrey.