Miami Open 2024: Women’s Singles draw preview and prediction featuring Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Simona Halep
Petra Kvitova is the defending champion at the 2024 Miami Open.
Follow Us
Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina (Images via Imago)
The main draws for the 2024 Miami Open were announced on Monday. As expected the seeded players have received a bye in the first round. Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, and Ons Jabeur are among the top ten seeds at the Masters tournament.
Romanian tennis ace, Simona Halep has also been included in the main draw. As Halep got her four-year suspension reduced to only nine months, the 32-year-old will be back in action at the Miami Open. As the top WTA stars get ready for a thrilling two weeks of tennis, here is a draw analysis.
Tournament Details
Tournament: Miami Open 2024
Date: March 19-31, 2024
Number of Entrants: 96 (Singles)
Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, Florida
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $8,770,480
Defending champion: Petra Kvitova
Top Seeds at 2024 Miami Open
- Iga Swiatek
- Aryna Sabalenka
- Coco Gauff
- Elena Rybakina
- Jessica Pegula
- Ons Jabeur
- Qinwen Zheng
- Maria Sakkari
- Jelena Ostapenko
- Daria Kasatkina
Miami Open 2024 Draw Preview
First Quarter
Iga Swiatek, Emma Navarro, Jessica Pegula, Leylah Fernandez, Jasmine Paolini, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Linda Noskova are the seeded players in the first quarter. All these players have been given a bye in the first round.
While the other seeded players are expected to sail through in the third round easily, Paolini, Noskova, and Alexandrova might face difficulties in their second-round matches. While Noskova can be challenged by Maria Timofeeva, Alexandrova faces a threat from Karoline Pliskova who is expected to topple Donna Vekic in the first round.
For Paolini, Katie Volynets or Sofia Kenin can be a thorn in the flesh as the two Americans are pitted against each other in the first round. Volynets dished out some good performances at the Indian Wells Open as she beat Mirra Andreeva and Ons Jabeur in the first two rounds. If Paolini manages to survive a scare in the second round, she will meet another American in Navarro.
In the third round, Swiatek and Navarro are expected to beat their opponents. Meanwhile, Pegula might face a stiff challenge from Fernandez. The Canadian might edge past the fifth seed and meet Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinal.
Quarterfinal Prediction: Iga Swiatek to beat Leylah Fernandez in straight sets.
Second Quarter
Reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff, Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia, Anastasia Potapova Sorana Cirstea, Daria Kasatkina, and Elina Svitolina have been given a bye in the first round in the second quarter. All these players are also expected to win their second-round matches except for Svitolina who might face a challenge from Naomi Osaka.
Jabeur, considering her recent performances, might face some challenges from Elina Avanesyan. But she is expected to enter the third round where Anastasia Potapova will be waiting for her. Kasatkina is expected to topple Cirstea in the third round while Gauff takes down Kostyuk.
The American is also expected to cruise into the quarterfinal. Meanwhile, Daria Kasatkina might just make it through to the last eight considering she is expected to meet Jabeur or Potapova in the pre-quarterfinals.
Quarterfinal Prediction: Coco Gauff to beat Kasatkina in straight sets.
Third Quarter
The third quarter has Maria Sakkari, Dayana Yastremska, Anna Kalinskaya, Jelena Ostapenko, Veronika Kudermeotova, Madison Keys, Elise Mertens, and Elena Rybakina as the seeded players. These top seeds are in the second round and are expected to reach the third round with ease as well. However, it can be trickier for a few of them considering there are promising players in this quarter.
Ostapenko faces a bigger threat from Laura Siegemund while Sakkari might be challenged by Anna Blinkova or Yue Yuan. In the third round, Sakkari will face another stiff challenge with Ukrainian Yastremska waiting for her. Meanwhile, Rybakina and Keys are expected to win their respective matches.
The draw gets tough in the fourth round. Nevertheless, Elena Rybakina is expected to reach the quarterfinal with either Yastremska or Sakkari being her opponent.
Quarterfinals Prediction: Elena Rybakina to beat Dayana Yastremska/Maria Sakkari in straight sets.
Fourth Quarter
The fourth quarter is packed with a few big names. While Aryna Sabalenka, Anhelina Kalinina, Qinwen Zheng, Barbora Krejcikova, Liudmila Samsonova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Katie Boulter, and Victoria Azarenka are the seeded players, Paula Badosa, Caroline Wozniacki, and Simona Halep are the other top names.
Seventh seed Zheng is expected to meet Katerina Siniakova in the second round and the Chinese ace might ease past her opponent. In the third round, she is expected to meet Azarenka who will also not have much trouble beating her opponent in the second round. Briton Katie Boulter and Haddad Maia are expected to meet in the third round as well.
Meanwhile, Wozniacki might reach the third round ahead of Kalinina considering the Dane’s recent performances. Between Badosa and Halep, the Spaniard might just edge past her Romanian opponent despite injury concerns. Halep has not played on the tour for more than a year and getting into rhythm will not be easy for her.
Badosa then might face Sabalenka in the second round. However, there are chances that the Spaniard will get a walkover as Sabalenka is expected to pull out due to her personal loss. In that case, Badosa will meet Wozniacki in the third round. The Spaniard is expected to reach the quarterfinal with Zheng waiting for her.
Quarterfinals Prediction: Paula Badosa to beat Qinwen Zheng in three sets.
Semifinals
In the first semifinal, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff will be up against each other, and considering the Pole’s record against Gauff, Swiatek will be expected to beat the American ace. However, the 19-year-old might not give up easily.
In the second semifinal, Elena Rybakina will topple Paula Badosa although the Spaniard leads the head-to-head record between the two players. Rybakina has won the last two matches between these two players. The Kazakh ace beat when these two met at the Miami Open last year.
Final
Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina will be up against each other and it will be a thrilling encounter. The two players have enjoyed playing against each other. Although Rybakina leads the head-to-head record, Swiatek has been in top form.
Fresh off a title win in Indian Wells, the Polish ace might just edge past Rybakina. But the Kazakh ace is expected to push Swiatek to her limits before the 2022 Miami Open champion repeats her heroics from two years ago.
Finals Prediction: Iga Swiatek to win in three sets.
In case you missed!
- Nick Kyrgios sends ‘thirsty’ compliments to Novak Djokovic after the Serb flexes his basketball skills on social media
- Miami Open 2024: Men’s Singles draw preview and prediction featuring Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur and Alexander Zverev
Stay Updated!
Ritesh Pathak
(2150 Articles Published)