Simona Halep Faces Tough Task To Overhaul Kvitova As Madrid Champion - UBITENNIS
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Simona Halep Faces Tough Task To Overhaul Kvitova As Madrid Champion

Simona Halep faces a tough task in trying to overhaul Petra Kvitova in Madrid.

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Simona Halep (@MutuaMadridOpen - Twitter)

Simona Halep faces a tough task in her bid to overhaul Petra Kvitova as Madrid champion as preparation for Roland Garros continues. 

The Romanian is looking to build momentum ahead of her Roland Garros title defence next month in Paris. But a tough draw in Madrid has made her life difficult in looking to overhaul Petra Kvitova in Madrid.

After winning in Stuttgart last week, Kvitova is looking to successfully defend her title in the Spanish capital and faces Sofia Kenin in the first round.

Meanwhile the likes of Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza are looking to keep up their strong reputations on the clay.

1st Quarter 

World number one Naomi Osaka headlines the draw as she looks to extend her advantage at the top of the WTA rankings. A tough test against Dominika Cibulkova could stop her progress though with a potential third round match with Anett Kontaveit on the cards.

Osaka’s potential last eight opponent is Karolina Pliskova, who is only just recovering from a viral illness. The Czech Republican starts against Ukrainian rising star Dayana Yastremska. Also in her section is Belinda Bencic, who starts against Alison Van Uytvanck , and a crunch match between Aryna Sabalenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Overall this section of the draw is mixed with power and a couple of excellent matches.

2nd Quarter

This is where we find Roland Garros champion Simona Halep, who has won twice in Madrid before. A match against a qualifier kicks off her campaign with a potential second round meeting with Johanna Konta awaiting her.

Also in this section we have Carla Suarez Navarro taking on Maria Sakkari in what is expected to be a high-quality match. Also Elina Svitolina returns from her injury to take on Pauline Parmentier as she looks to set an early bench-marker for the clay season.

Should the seeds and previous year’s form match up then we could be set for a titanic last eight match between Halep and Svitolina, two of the favourites for Roland Garros next month.

3rd Quarter

The third quarter of the draw sees Angelique Kerber take on Lesia Tsurenko in the opening round. The German will look to complete her career grand slam in Paris next month but has a complicated relationship with the red dirt. A possible second round meeting with Garbine Muguruza could await should the Spaniard get past Istanbul champion Petra Martic.

Out of sorts Sloane Stephens also appears in this section as she teams up with new coach Sven Groenefeld for the first time this week. A qualifier awaits for the American with a second round meeting with Daria Kasatkina and Victoria Azarenka on the cards.

Also in this section in the draw sees Caroline Wozniacki and in-form Donna Vekic.

4th Quarter

In the final quarter of the draw, defending champion Petra Kvitova will play Sofia Kenin in the opening match. The Stuttgart champion also has Barbora Strycova, Caroline Garcia and Madison Keys in her section of the draw.

Should Kvitova make the quarter-finals, a rematch of last year’s final and the Stuttgart final awaits in Kiki Bertens, who plays Katerina Siniakova in round one. Bertens will also fancy her chances in Paris next month as she plays the winner of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova versus Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.

Here is the full draw, with main draw action beginning on Saturday:

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Jannik Sinner Plays Daniil Medvedev in the Semifinals

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Jannik Sinner on Wednesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

Semifinals in both men’s singles and women’s doubles will be played on Friday.

The men’s singles semifinals feature three of the top four seeds, but they do not include top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who was upset by Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday evening.  Dimitrov will face Sascha Zverev on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s championship match.

The other men’s semi is a rematch of the epic Australian Open final, as well as a rematch from last year’s Miami final, between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev

And in the women’s doubles semifinals, it will be four Americans, two Italians, and a Canadian teaming with a Kiwi.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Friday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Daniil Medvedev (3) vs. Jannik Sinner (2) –  Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

In the championship match of January’s Australian Open, an exhausted Medvedev, who had already played three five-setters, started out unusually aggressive.  It caught Sinner off-guard, and won Daniil the first two sets.  But Jannik showed an extreme amount of composure for someone down two sets in his first Major final, and rather comfortably claimed the next three, as well as the biggest title of his career.

Overall Medvedev leads their head-to-head 6-4, with all 10 meetings on hard courts.  However, you can divide their history into two parts.  Medvedev won the first six matches, with the most recent coming in the final of Miami a year ago.  Since then, Sinner has taken the last four, which all took place between this past October and January. 

In the absence of Djokovic, and with Alcaraz only winning one title since last July, these two are definitively the best two hard court players the ATP has to offer.  Since last summer, Sinner has reached six hard court finals, while Medvedev has reached five.  Yet notably, their results in those finals tell contrasting stories.  Jannik has gone 5-1, while Daniil has gone 0-5.

Sinner has been the ATP’s best big match player across the past six months.  And on Friday, he should be favored to earn his fifth consecutive victory over Medvedev.


Grigor Dimitrov (11) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Grigor Dimitrov just may be playing the best tennis of his career.  He simply outhit and outshined Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday night, mixing highlight-reel winners with a mature and composed demeanor.  Grigor has only been broken twice through four matches in Miami, and is into his third Masters 1000 semifinal out of the last four.  With a victory on Friday, the 32-year-old would return to the top 10 for the first time since 2018.

2018 was also the last time Zverev reached the final of this tournament.  But he’s just one win away from a repeat appearance, and has won all eight sets he’s played this fortnight.  Sascha has only been broken once to this stage, to reach just his second Masters 1000 semifinal since an ankle injury cut his 2022 season short in June of that year.

This rivalry has been nearly completely one-sided.  Dimitrov won their first matchup, a full decade ago when Zverev was still ranked outside the top 100.  But ever since, it’s been all Sacha, as he’s won the last seven.  The German will also be the much fresher player on Friday, as he’s spent considerably less time on court.  And as high as Grigor’s level has been, he remains just 2-8 in Masters 1000 semifinals.  I give the edge to Zverev to advance.


Other Notable Matches on Friday:

Asia Muhammad and Alycia Parks vs. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe (2) – Muhammad and Parks are infrequent partners, yet have survived three deciding-set tiebreaks to reach this stage.  Dabrowski and Routliffe are the reigning US Open champions.

Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (ALT) vs. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (OSE) – Kenin and Mattek-Sands already won a title this season (Abu Dhabi), as have Errani and Paolini, who were victorious in Linz.


Friday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Elena Rybakina Plays Victoria Azarenka in the Semifinals

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Elena Rybakina on Tuesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

The men’s singles quarterfinals conclude on Thursday, while the women’s singles semifinals will both be played.

2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina faces three-time Miami Open champ Victoria Azarenka on Thursday.  The other WTA semifinal sees Ekaterina Alexandrova, who has now taken out top five seeds in consecutive rounds (Swiatek, Pegula), play an in-form American in Danielle Collins,

Plus, the second two ATP singles quarterfinals will be contested.  2022 champ Carlos Alcaraz squares off against Grigor Dimitrov, who has been playing some of the best tennis of his career.  And 2018 runner-up Sascha Zverev takes on Fabian Marozsan, a red-hot Hungarian who is now 14-3 at Masters 1000 level.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Thursday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Elena Rybakina (4) vs. Victoria Azarenka (27) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

Rybakina is 21-3 on the year, after surviving a stern test from an in-form Maria Sakkari on Tuesday night.  Elena has already claimed two titles this season (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi), and reached another final (Doha).  This is her seventh WTA 1000 semifinal since last March, and she’s 4-2 in this round.

Azarenka is 14-5 this season, and has now accumulated 44 match wins at this event, the most of any WTA 1000 tournament.  She defeated two seeded players to this stage (Zheng, Boulter), both in straight sets.  This is a fifth Miami Open semifinal for the three-time champ.

Rybakina is 3-0 against Azarenka, with all three meetings occurring within the last few years on hard courts.  She took the first two in straight sets, and then split sets with Vika last month in Dubai, before Azarenka retired.  Despite Vika’s great history at this tournament, recent form dictates Elena must be considered the favorite to achieve a second consecutive final in Miami. 


Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (11) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Coming off his title run in Indian Wells, Alcaraz has been in stellar form.  He has not dropped a set through three matches, playing confident and composed tennis.  Carlitos is vying for a third straight semifinal appearance in Miami.

Until this week, this was the only Masters 1000 event where Dimitrov had failed to reach the quarterfinals or better, and he held a losing record of 11-12 in Miami.  But across the past six months, Grigor has been playing at a very high level.  Since the Shanghai Masters in October, he’s gone 28-7, and advanced to three tournament finals.  In the last round, he looked completely gassed at the end of a near three-hour match against Hubert Hurkacz, yet escaped in a third-set tiebreak.

Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, though Dimitrov’s only victory was their most recent encounter, six months ago in Shanghai when Grigor began this nice run.  But beating Carlitos again when the Spaniard is seemingly at the peak of his abilities will be an entirely different story.  Alcaraz should be favored on Thursday.


Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Fabian Marozsan – Zverev is yet to drop a set, and ousted Karen Khachanov in the last round.  Marozsan has now reached the fourth round or better in all four of his Masters 1000 appearances, and already took out two top 10 seeds during this fortnight (Rune, de Minaur).  This will be their first career meeting.

Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) vs. Danielle Collins – As per Diego Barbiani on Twitter, Alexandrova’s comeback win over Pegula was the first time she’s beaten a top 10 player after losing the first set, coming after 25 losses.  Collins has played ferociously to achieve her second WTA 1000 semifinal, taking 10 consecutive sets where her opponent has failed to win more than three games.  This is another first-time encounter.


Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Revitalised Grigor Dimitrov Targets Alcaraz Upset In Miami

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(credit Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

Grigor Dimitrov says playing at this year’s Miami Open has been ‘kryptonite’ for his tennis after reaching the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 event for the first time at the age of 32. 

The 11th seed secured his place in the last eight with a dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), win over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz who uncharacteristically lost his cool in the closing stages. Tied at 2-2 in the deciding tiebreaker, Hurkacz slammed his racket on the ground after the umpire ruled that his foot touched the net which resulted in Dimitrov winning that point. The Pole demanded to see a replay but wasn’t allowed to do so as the umpire was certain that he did. A replay after the match confirmed that he did touch the net. 

“Grigor had hit a little bit of an unconventional return. I hit a good second serve and yeah, I was just trying to get to the ball and I slid,” said Hurkacz. “My coach told me after the match – because I was just sliding and I didn’t feel anything – but my coach told me that I touched the net at the end. So yeah, just a bit unfortunate.”
“I couldn’t feel anything because I was just sliding, so I wanted to see a replay,” explained Hurkacz. “But anyway, I tried to move on and keep playing, but Grigor came up with some good shots.”

As for Dimitrov, it is the second time he has beaten a top 10 player on the Tour during what has been a strong start to the season for him. He has won 18 out of 22 matches played so far in 2024 and has become only the ninth active player to reach the quarter-finals or better at every Masters event at least once. Dimitrov has reached the last eight in three out of the last four tournaments he has played in this category. 

Awaiting the Bulgarian next will be Carlos Alcaraz who won the Indian Wells title earlier this month. He has only beaten the Spaniard once in their four previous meetings on the Tour. However, the only time Dimitrov did so was in their most recent encounter at the Shanghai Masters last October. 

“It’s been like a kryptonite for me, this tournament,” Dimitrov said after his latest win.
“I’m looking forward to the (next) match. Everyone wants to challenge the best of the world. Clearly [Carlos has] been playing outstanding tennis, but so am I.
“I’ve been very consistent on a lot of ends. I think if I clean up my game a little bit it can be very interesting. I’m excited because these are the types of matches I want to play. First time in the quarter-finals here, I think it gives you an extra boost.”

A rejuvenated Dimitrov certainly can trouble Alcaraz who admits himself that he faces a stern challenge. The world No.2 sealed his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3, win over Lorenzo Musetti. 

“I know he’s a really talented player, a really tough one.” Alcaraz said of Dimitrov.
“Here with the court, I feel that the slice a lot is going to be difficult for me. I know that. But I try to play my best game and try to get the victory.”

Dimitrov is currently playing in his 94th Masters 1000 event. 

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