Tennis-Djokovic makes winning Miami return, Swiatek into third round

(Reuters) -Six-times champion Novak Djokovic made his long-awaited Miami Open return on Friday and defeated Australian Rinky Hijikata 6-0 7-6(1) to reach the third round while Polish second seed Iga Swiatek also advanced.

It marked Djokovic's Miami return for the first time since 2019 and the Serbian fourth seed's victory was his 410th ATP Masters 1000 level match win, tying him with Rafa Nadal for the most of all time.

"I was playing really well, I mean on a very high level from the beginning, I knew exactly what I wanted to do tactically," Djokovic said during his on-court interview.

"Obviously it's just the first match but the way I felt on the court and the way I played is really encouraging."

It was all one-way traffic in the opening set as Djokovic showcased his superior shotmaking from the baseline along with a lethal service game to make a perfect start and needed just 27 minutes to wrap up the opening set.

But Hijikata refused to back down and his confidence grew during a tightly-contested second set where neither player could manage a break but Djokovic took over in the tiebreak where he won the final six points.

Russian seventh seed Daniil Medvedev, the 2023 Miami champion who arrived this year fresh off a run to the Indian Wells semi-finals, crashed out at the first hurdle as he fell 6-2 6-3 to Spaniard Jaume Munar.

Former Miami finalists Casper Ruud and Grigor Dimitrov both advanced while Australian Kyrgios, who this week earned his first win since October 2022, fell 7-6(3) 6-0 to Karen Khachanov.

Second seed Carlos Alcaraz is set to kick off the evening session against Belgian David Goffin.

On the women's side, former champion Swiatek beat Caroline Garcia for the second time in as many tournaments with a 6-2 7-5 victory that sets up a third-round clash with Belgian Elise Mertens, a 6-4 6-1 winner over American Peyton Stearns.

Swiatek beat Garcia in straight sets at the same stage in Indian Wells where the Pole's title defence ended last week in the semi-finals but faced a much more determined opponent this time around.

Swiatek powered through the first two games of the match without dropping a point and then consolidated another service break for a 4-0 lead before leaning on her serve to secure the first set in 29 minutes.

But the Pole faced much more resistance during a back-and-forth second set as she overturned a 3-1 deficit and then saved a set point while serving at 5-4 down as she closed out the match by winning the last three games.

Former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu also advanced with a 7-6(6) 2-6 7-6(3) win over Emma Navarro. Among the other women advancing were Spanish 10th seed Paula Badosa and Czech 15th seed Karolina Muchova.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Christian Radnedge)