Arthur Fils’ three-set upset of top seed Alexander Zverev, and Grigor Dimitrov’s marathon win, contributed to the schedule backlog.Tennis is a sport that rewards consistency, but for years the sport was inconsistent about its night matches. Some began no matter how late the evening went, while others were postponed due to what many would say is common sense. No real rhyme or reason.Last year, the ATP and WTA introduced new scheduling guidelines to reduce late finishes, including preventing matches from starting after 11 p.m. except with approval. But some wondered whether the rule would actually be implemented Wednesday night at the Miami Open, as marquee man Novak Djokovic waited to play his quarterfinal against Sebastian Korda with thousands of eager fans already in their seats.As Jessica Pegula and Emma Raducanu played their match into a third set—and past 11 p.m.—the players consulted with their teams while fans awaited word. Following the conclusion of the WTA quarterfinal, the decision was made to postpone the Djokovic-Korda contest to Thursday.”This has been a long time in the making,” said Paul Annacone on Tennis Channel Live, directly following the decision.Novak Djokovic’s #MiamiOpen quarterfinal match vs Sebi Korda is rescheduled for Thursday due to a late start time. Was this the right call? 🤔#TCLive pic.twitter.com/Feohti8UAuCompleting five singles matches in a timely manner on a single court with a 1 p.m. start time was ambitious, and the Miami Open got bitten. Only four matches were originally scheduled on Stadium, but rain forced the fourth-rounder between Alexander Zverev and Arthur Fils onto Wednesday’s schedule. Conceivably, Wednesday’s start time could have been pushed ahead—all prior Stadium court sessions at this year’s Miami Open began at 12 p.m.—or one of the five matches could have been moved to a different court. Neither one of those decisions were made.”I’m glad that the tours are finally helping the players,” said Coco Vandeweghe on TC Live, “but again, there is Grandstand, there’s other courts that maybe some matches could have gone off to, instead of filling up Stadium only.”The event arrived at this predicament due to some compelling and competitive tennis much earlier in the day, starting with Alexandra Eala’s shocking, 6-2, 7-5 win over Iga Swiatek. Imagine if that had gone three sets?READ MORE: Is Nadal Academy prodigy Alexandra Eala the next tennis star? 🇵🇭Grigor Dimitrov gave it his all on a brutally humid day in Miami. 2025 Getty ImagesAll the subsequent matches did, leading to the late (but not too late) night.First, top seed Alexander Zverev lost to 17th seed Arthur Fils, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. The 20-year-old Frenchman has now reached the quarterfinals in back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Then Grigor Dimitrov barely held off Francisco Cerundolo by the score of 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3).The Bulgarian veteran lost the first set despite holding seven set points, and saved a match point in the third set before prevailing in just under three hours. But humid conditions took a toll on the victor, who had to be helped off the court and did not conduct post-match press.Grigor Dimitrov struggled immensely after his #MiamiOpen quarterfinal win vs Cerundolo 🤕Will the 🇧🇬 recover in time for his semifinal vs Djokovic/Korda? pic.twitter.com/aFQs2N6iGLWhen Pegula capped her 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 win over Raducanu to reach the Miami semifinals for the third time in the last four seasons, she wrote over the camera lens, “It’s humid!” That likely slowed down today’s play and didn’t help matters, but all that matters for Eala, Fils, Dimitrov and Pegula is that they won.We’ll have to wait for Thursday—which also sees five matches scheduled on Stadium with a 1 p.m. start time (?!)—to see who will win between Djokovic and Korda.
