Frenchman is the youngest match winner in Miami history

Moise Kouame stole the spotlight on Thursday at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he became the first player born in 2009 or later to win an ATP Tour match, underlining the strength of tennis’ rising generation.

Competing as a wild card in his first main-draw ATP Masters 1000 match, the 17-year-old Frenchman delivered a composed performance to defeat qualifier Zachary Svajda 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 and carve his name into the history books. With his victory, Kouame became the the youngest Miami match winner and the youngest to claim an ATP Masters 1000 victory since Rafael Nadal in Hamburg in 2003.

“It’s huge,” Kouame told Tennis Channel after the match. “[My] first main draw at a Masters 1000 here in Miami — it’s such a cool place. I’m really happy to win that match today and hopefully I can win many more.

“It’s my first time, so I didn’t expect all of this, but here I am. I need to get used to it pretty fast. It brings me a lot of confidence. It shows me that I’m on the right path. I just need to keep working.”

Serving at 3-4 in the second set, Kouame fell into a 0/40 hole, but rattled off 14 of the next 16 points to seize control and force a decider. Overall, the 6’3” talent saved 10 of 12 break points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to close out the win in two hours, 17 minutes.

At a career-high World No. 385, Kouame is the youngest player inside the Top 900 of the PIF ATP Rankings and has climbed to fourth in the Next Gen Race. Next up in Miami, he faces 21st seed Jiri Lehecka as he looks to extend his dream debut.