Thanasi Kokkinakis continued his return from a right shoulder injury on Thursday, by winning his first ATP Masters 1000 match for three years, after booking a place in the Miami Open presented by Itau.
The Australian, who is currently at No. 243 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, overcame fellow qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan 6-3, 6-3 in 84 minutes to set up a second-round clash against Hungarian No. 29 seed Marton Fucsovics.
Kokkinakis, who beat then-World No. 1 Roger Federer as a No. 176-ranked qualifier in the 2018 Miami second round, returned to the ATP Tour last month at the Murray River Open in Melbourne. The 24-year-old, who did not compete for 16 months, took Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets at the Australian Open.
Kokkinakis recovered from 0/40 in the first game, then broke 17-year-old Mochizuki courtesy of a double fault for a 3-1 lead. The first set, which lasted 38 minutes, ended with Mochizuki hitting a forehand long.
Kokkinakis seized the momentum after three straight service breaks at the start of the second set, but Mochizuki continued to fight and broke back with a backhand return winner at 2-5. Kokkinakis completed his second tour-level win of 2021 after Mochizuki struck a backhand into the net.
Kokkinakis Fires Up For Miami, Where He Once Shook The Tennis World
Former junior World No. 1 Mochizuki, who won the 2019 Wimbledon junior title, was making his Masters 1000 debut this week in Miami. The World No. 630 has a 1-2 record in ATP Challenger Tour finals.
“It was amazing to be there,” said Mochizuki. “I won two matches in qualifying. I was confident about the match, but he kept hitting big and he was a lot better than me.”