MIAMI, March 20 (Reuters) - French wildcard Moise Kouame said he will have to get used to the big time pretty quickly after the 17-year-old beat Zachary Svajda at the Miami Open on Thursday to become the youngest man to win an ATP Masters 1000 match since Rafa Nadal in 2003.
Kouame's 5-7 6-4 6-4 first-round win over American qualifier Svajda also made him the first player born in 2009 or later to win an ATP Tour match, as well as the Miami tournament's youngest match winner.
"It's big, it's huge," he told the Tennis Channel.
"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 this, but here I am. I need to get used to it and 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."
Kouame won back-to-back ITF World Tennis Tour titles in Hazebrouck and Bressuire before qualifying for his first tour-level event in Montpellier, where he came through qualifying only to lose his opener to Aleksandar Kovacevic.
The world number 385 - the youngest player inside the top 900 - showed his full potential on Thursday and said he was left starstruck when his idol Novak Djokovic congratulated him via social media.
"I'm so nervous," he added. "I don't know what to answer. Imagine having your idol DM you like this. This is too much for me. It's the coolest thing ever."
Kouame takes on Jiri Lehecka in the second round.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
