On Saturday, the tournament lost many top players, including both Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. Serena withdrew due to a knee injury, while Osaka was upset by Su-Wei Hsieh. On the men’s side, Roger Federer survived a scare from Radu Albot, and was likely to face Stan Wawrinka in the next round. But Stan didn’t make it that far, as he was upset by Filip Krajinovic despite having a big lead in the third set tiebreak. And then David Ferrer, who will retire later this Spring, shocked the second seed, Sascha Zverev. There’s been so many upsets on the American hard courts this month, will that trend continue today?
Daria Kasatkina (14) vs. Venus Williams
Embed from Getty Images
The 21-year-old Russian holds a 2-1 record over Venus, winning both of their previous hard court matches. Venus’ only victory came at Wimbledon in 2016, where she prevailed 10-8 in the third. All three of their meetings have gone the distance – their contrast of styles makes for grueling, compelling matches. After a breakout year that saw her enter the top 10 for the first time, Kasatkina has been struggling mightily in 2019. She’s just 3-6 on the year, and her three wins are over players ranked well outside the top 100. Venus on the other hand has been competing very well of late, with six wins over the past three weeks alone. Those wins include her big upset of Petra Kvitova in Indian Wells, and her defeat of Carla Suarez Navarro just two days ago. Venus feels extremely comfortable playing in Miami, with a career tally of 66 wins at this tournament. Based on that history, as well as recent form, Venus is the favorite here.
Hubert Hurkacz vs. Felix Auger Aliassime
Embed from Getty Images
This third round match is between two of the ATP’s hottest players in 2019. Both are young, rising stars on the brink of breaking into the top 50 in the world. Hurkacz is coming off a quarterfinal run last week in Indian Wells, where he defeated three top 30 seeds: Kei Nishikori, Denis Shapovalov, and Lucas Pouille. And on Friday in Miami, the 21-year-old from Poland upset Indian Wells Champion Dominic Thiem in straight sets. His playing style has been compared by many to that of Andy Murray’s. On the other side of the net will be an 18-year-old Canadian who is also playing with a lot of confidence. Auger Aliassime made the final last month in Rio de Janeiro, then upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in Indian Wells. He had to come through qualifying to get into this event, and already has four wins this week including those qualifying rounds. Felix has easy power, and is extremely quick around the court. These two have never met before, so I’m curious to see how the first of what will likely be many future encounters will play out. The winner may be the more physically and emotionally fresh player on this day, I’m just not sure who that will be. Auger Aliassime has already played 11 sets of tennis this week, while Hurkacz is coming off the biggest win of his career. This should be a good one.
Other notable matches on Day 7
- Six-Time Miami Champion Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Federico Delbonis, who only has seven Miami Open match wins in his career
- Simona Halep (2) vs. Polona Hercog (LL). Hercog won the only time they’ve ever played, at a 100K event nearly 10 years ago on clay
- 2018 Miami Champion Sloane Stephens (4) vs. Tatjana Maria. Stephens would lose almost 20% of her ranking points with a loss today
- 2018 Miami Champion John Isner (7) vs. Albert Ranos Vinolas. Isner would fall out of the top 10 with a loss today
