Formerly known as the Miami Masters, the newly-named ‘Miami Open presented by Itaύ’ gets underway on Wednesday, straight off the back of an entertaining tournament Indian Wells.
The Paribas Open at Indian Wells concluded on Sunday, with Novak Djokovic continuing to demonstrate his supremacy on the men’s side with a three-set victory over Roger Federer in the final. The Serbian barely had to break sweat en-route to the final, winning each of his matches in two sets – defeating Marcos Baghdatis, Albert Ramos-Viñolas, John Isner and Andy Murray easily – and was even handed a walk-over against Bernard Tomic in the quarter-finals to make life very comfortable for him.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams wasn’t able to assert her dominance as she was forced to pull out of the tournament ahead of her semi-final with Simona Halep due to a knee injury. 24-year-old Halep – who is hoping to win her first major in 2015 after making vast progress in the last 18 months – went on to win the tournament, beating Jelena Jankovic in the final. Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, suffered a surprise fourth-round defeat to Flavia Pennetta, despite beating the returning Victoria Azarenka in straight sets in the previous round.
The big news coming into the Miami Open is that Roger Federer has said he will miss the tournament as he feels he needs a break from competition ahead of the upcoming clay season. That means Novak Djokovic’s biggest competition is likely to come from Andy Murray – although the Scot is going to need to vastly improve on his performance at Indian Wells in order to do that. Doubts continue to remain over Murray’s mental strength in the big games, and, particularly, whether he has a mental block against the Serb, something that was demonstrated as he buckled under the pressure despite leading in the Australian Open final in January. Murray has lost to Djokovic in each of their last six meetings.
Rafael Nadal still seems some way off peak form having suffered a shock quarter-final defeat to Milos Raonic at Indian Wells. The Spaniard will be especially determined to win the Miami Open having reached the final four times, but suffered defeat in each.
Unsurprisingly, Djokovic is the reigning champion here having won his fourth title in Miami in 2014. Andy Murray has also tasted success in Miami, winning in 2009 and 2013, but it’s hard to look past the in-form Serbian here.
After pulling out in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, it looks highly doubtful that Serena Williams will recover sufficiently in time to take part here – especially considering the unforgiving hard court. It will be a shame for the world number one – who has won here a record seven times – but it opens the competition right up.
Simona Halep will be an obvious contender once again, as the 23-year-old looks to claim her 12th WTA title – having already gathered three in 2015 alone. Maria Sharapova is sure to be riled up though, having crashed out in the fourth round at the Paribas Open – she is a renowned fighter and the world number two will be desperate to close the gap on the – almost-certainly – absent Williams.
Maria Sharapova to win – 9/2 at 888sport
The tournament commences on Wednesday 25th March at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park, Miami, with the women’s final coming on Saturday 4th April, and the men’s a day later on Sunday 5th April.
Betfair:
Bet on Henrik Stenson to become the BMW PGA Championship Winner.
Paddypower:
Back Australia to take the Ashes home with them.
Betway:
Back Rafael Nadal to become the Mens French Open Winner.
Coral:
Back One For Arthur to win the Grand National.
Bet365:
Back Mexico to win the Confederations Cup.
