Sloane Stephens out to defend her title at the Miami Open - UBITENNIS
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Sloane Stephens out to defend her title at the Miami Open

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Reigning US Open and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, 2018 Roland Garros champion Simona Halep, fresh Indian Wells winner Bianca Andreescu, 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams and 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber are in the spotlight at the Miami Open Main Draw.  

Naomi Osaka leads the top half of the draw, which also features three Grand Slam champions; Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza and Caroline Wozniacki. Osaka won the first title of her career at Indian Wells in 2018 and beat Serena Williams in her opening match of last year’s edition of the Miami Open before losing to Elina Svitolina.

In this year’s edition of the Miami Open Osaka will open her campaign against a qualifier and could take on Hsieh-Su-Wei in the third round in a possible re-match of this year’s Australian Open third round match. In Melbourne the Japanese player came back from a set down to beat Hsieh-Su-Wei 5-7 6-4 6-1. Last week Osaka lost to Belinda Bencic in straight sets in Indian Wells.

Osaka could face either Caroline Wozniacki or Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round and is on collision course for a possible quarter final clash against either Angelique Kerber or Aryna Sabalenka.

Defending champion Sloane Stephens lead the bottom half of the draw. The 2017 US Open champion has had a season of ups and downs with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses and lost in her opening round of Indian Wells against Stefanie Voegele, but the US player should not be underestimated. Last year she entered the Miami tournament with a negative 3-4 win-loss record and won her maiden Miami title. She continued her successful 2018 season with three finals at Roland Garros, Montreal and at the WTA Finals in Singapore. Stephens will start her defence against either Budapest champion Alyson Van Uytvanck or Ons Jabeur and could meet Italy’s Camila Giorgi in the third round and is on collision course for a possible quarter final against either Karolina Pliskova or Jelena Ostapenko (in a possible re-match of last year’s final). Pliskova could meet 2019 Dubai champion and Indian Wells semifinalist Belinda Bencic in the third round in a potential re-match of this year’s Indian Wells match.

Simona Halep leads the bottom half of the draw. The Romanian player will open her Miami campaign against Johanna Larsson an dcould meet either Daria Kasatkina in the third round or Lesla Tsurenko before a potential quarter final against either Serena Williams or last year’s WTA Finals champion Elina Svitolina.

This year’s Australian Open finalist Petra Kvitova has been drawn in the top half of the draw and will play against either Maria Sakkari or last year’s Moscow champion Olga Danilovic in her opening match before a possible third-round clash against Donna Vekic.

Fresh Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu will make her Miami Open debut against Romania’s Irina Camelia Begu. The winner of this match could clash against 20-year-old US player Sofia Kenin, who beat Andreescu in the recent Acapulco semifinal. Andreescu could face Kerber in the third round in a potential re-match of last Sunday’s Indian Wells final.

In one of the most interesting first round matches former Miami champion Victoria Azarenka will face 2016 WTA Finals champion Dominica Cibulkova, who reached the semifinal in Miami in 2014.

Mari Osaka, the elder sister of Naomi Osaka, was awarded a wild card for the 2019 Miami Open and will make her first appearance in a main draw and will play against Whitney Osuigwe.

There is no clear favourites in Miami after a very unpredictable start to the season in the first three months with 13 different champions in the first 13 WTA tournaments of the year. Three players aged 21 or younger Naomi Osaka, Belinda Bencic and Bianca Andreescu won the biggest titles this season lifting the trophies respectively at the Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells.

The Miami Open will be held for the first time in the Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the American Football team Miami Dolphins.

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Caroline Garcia Opens Up About Recent Struggles After Claiming First Top 10 Win Since 2022 In Miami

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Caroline Garcia - Australian Open 2024 (Foto X @ausopen)

After a lacklustre start to her season, Caroline Garcia is finally finding some momentum in her tennis at the Miami Open. 

Garcia, who has been ranked as high as fourth in the world, came into the WTA 1000 event yet to reach a quarter-final on the Tour this year and hadn’t back-to-back matches. However, her fortunes have turned around at her latest event where she produced a stunning win over Coco Gauff in the fourth round on Monday. 

The 30-year-old rallied to a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, win over the reigning US Open champion. It is the first time she has beaten a top 10 player on the Tour for 16 months. Before taking on Gauff, she also beat four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in straight sets. 

“It’s definitely a great match and a great win for me. The last couple of months have not been easy,” Garcia said afterwards. 

Garcia claimed the biggest title of her career at the 2022 WTA Finals, where she won four out of her five matches played at the end-of-season event. However, since then she has only reached the final of two more Tour-level events which were during the first two months of last year. She is currently ranked 27th in the world and has been outside the top 20 since January. 

“Sometimes you don’t have all the results you want, and sometimes it can affect you too much,” Garcia commented.
“You have to find a good balance and a good relationship with tennis to balance your professional life and personal.
“I think we have been able to do good sometimes. On the practice courts in Indian Wells after the loss against Maria (Sakkari), I was a bit down and then we did some good practice and we saw she played well. 
“My game was there. I just had to go for it and play my matches. I have been able to do it one match at a time.”

The Frenchwoman will be hoping to continue her fairytale run in the quarter-finals where she will take on unseeded Danielle Collins. Collins, who will retire later this year, dropped only five games during her 6-3, 6-2, win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea. 

“I just want to be focused on my game what I can do and at the end try my best and walk out of the court proud of the effort,” Garcia concluded. 

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Shocks Galore In Miami As Four Top 10 Players Crash Out Of Women’s Draw

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An action-packed Saturday at the Miami Open saw a series of top names suffer surprise losses in the third round with the the most high-profile exit being Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. 

The world No.2 suffered a disappointing 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, loss to Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina after just over two hours of play. Sabalenka struggled particularly with her second serve with the Belarussian only winning 10 out of 27 points. In the final set, she failed to hold her serve once and smashed her racket on the ground multiple times immediately after the match concluded. 

“It’s always tough to play on big stages against these top players,” said Kalinina. “Today was really tough with nerves but I managed in the tough moments to deal with it. 
“So I’m a little bit proud of myself today.” 

Sabalenka’s defeat comes less than a week after the death of her former boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov who passed away in Miami. She has opted not to speak with the media at the tournament whilst playing due to the current circumstances. However, on Wednesday in a short statement on social media, she said her “heart was broken” by the “unthinkable tragedy.” 

Meanwhile, 32nd seed Kalinina will next play Yulia Putintseva. It is the first time she has beaten a top 10 player this season with Sabalenka being the second Grand Slam winner she has ousted in Miami. Earlier in the tournament, she also knocked out Caroline Wozniacki in a marathon encounter that lasted more than three hours. 

Another casualty in the draw is Ons Jabeur who lost 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to Elina Avanbesyan. It is the fourth match in a row that the Tunisian has lost on the Tour. She is yet to win back-to-back matches on the Tour in 2024 but has been troubled in recent weeks by a knee injury. 

Chinese seventh seed Zheng Qinwen was knocked out of the draw in straight sets by former champion Victoria Azarenka. Zheng was broken four times in the match during her 6-4, 7-5, loss. 

Finally, Jelena Ostaoeko won just four games during her 6-3, 6-1, loss to Anna Kalinskaya. 

Despite the series of shocks, four out of five top five players remain in the draw this year. They are Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula. 

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Coco Gauff And Aryna Sabalenka Struggle Through In Indian Wells Openers

The duo were pushed to three sets in their first matches played at this year’s WTA 1000 event.

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Coco Gauff admits she didn’t play her best tennis at Indian Wells on Saturday after coming through a rollercoaster three-set battle. 

The world No.3 needed more than two hours to oust France’s Clara Burel 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). Gauff found herself trailing multiple times during the match. After losing the opening set, the reigning US Open champion then had to battle back from a 0-4 deficit in the decider. Capitalising on some tentative hitting from Burel who was bidding to record the biggest win of her career. 

Despite prevailing, it was a far from vintage performance from Gauff who hit six double faults and 14 unforced errors during the first set alone. She also struggled behind her second serve, winning just 12 out of 36 points played. 

“I think for me it’s just getting through that match definitely meant a lot,” Gauff said. “Could have easily thrown in the towel. But honestly, I was just telling myself, like, win or lose, I don’t want to have any regrets on the court. I want to be like I gave myself the best opportunity to win, and I did that.
“Am I proud of how I played? Not really, to be honest. But the fight, I am proud of. I am eager to improve. I think it wasn’t my best tennis at all. I think I just have a lot of improvement that I can do to get better.”

The 19-year-old has become the first teenager in the last 15 years to have won 50 or more matches at WTA 1000 events. She will next play Lucia Bonzetti.

“That’s pretty cool,” Gauff commented on her latest milestone. “I feel like I have a lot of stats and stuff like that. Hopefully I can close this chapter of my life off good. I’m really happy with how my teenage years went.” 

Sabalenka avoids major upset 

Aryna Sabalenka was another player to experience trouble during their opening match after outlasting Peyton Sterns 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-6 (8), in a clash that lasted almost three hours. The world No.2 was on the verge of losing and had to save four match points when down 4-5 in the final set. Despite that blip, she held her nerve to break back before prevailing in a tightly contested tiebreaker. 

“Wow, I think I was right when I see this tattoo of a tiger and I was fighting today like a tiger,” said Sabalenka. “It’s just crazy what happened. She’s an unbelievable player.
“She played crazy tennis. She said at the net, ‘I had you,’ so she’s right. I was probably a little bit lucky to get this win. Super happy to get through this.”
“I didn’t play my best tennis and she was crushing it like crazy. I was just trying to stay in the game and keep fighting for every point. But this match definitely goes into the book of craziest matches and the best matches of my career.”

Sabalenka is hoping to go one step better in Indian Wells than 12 months ago when she reached the final before losing to Elena Rybakina, who has pulled out of the tournament due to gastrointestinal issues. 

Awaiting the Belrussian in the next round will be Emma Raducanu in what will be the first meeting on the Tour. 

Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka posted a convincing 7-5, 6-3, win over world No.15 Luidmila Samsonova. It is the first time she has beaten a top 20 player since returning to competitive tennis following the birth of her child. 

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