MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Stadium Court is typically the stage for marquee players at the Miami Open, but the most electric crowds so far this week were at the 5,000-seat Grandstand, where two of the sport’s rising stars — Carlos “Carlitos” Alcaraz and Francisco Cerundolo — played their fourth-round matches.
The fact that they are both Spanish-speaking players, Alcaraz from Spain and Cerundolo from Argentina, made them instant favorites among the huge Hispanic tennis audience that shows up at this tournament every year.
Hundreds of fans who couldn’t fit in the stands settled for hovering near the stadium Tuesday night to capture the energy coming from Alcaraz’s 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in a rematch of their five-set epic match at the U.S. Open.
