Miami Open '26 ATP/WTA Draw Breakdown & PREDICTIONS

The second half of the Sunshine Double is set to get underway with the 2026 Miami Open which features potential early round blockbusters on both the women's and men's sides. Carlos Alcaraz and Joao Fonseca are likely to meet for the first time while Alex Eala could face Iga Swiatek again, but a few rounds earlier. Sabalenka and Sinner seek the sunshine double while Coco Gauff looks to return from injury.

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We are halfway through the Sunshine Double, so it's time to move on to the Miami Open where Arena Sabalenka and Yannick Center will attempt to complete the Sunshine Double for the first time. I'll break down both the men's and women's draw and predict if I think we'll see yet another Center Lenka sweep or if some other champions emerge to take home the title. Hello, my name, I don't really know any Miami intro. Maybe habla español, I don't know, but hello, my name is Christian Bass Knight, and welcome to Christian's Court where I cover tennis from all angles. If you have not yet already, make sure you subscribe and click that notification bell so you are notified whenever I post more Miami open content. So I want to first start out by talking about the men's draw because I felt like I kind of neglected the men's draw a little bit towards the end of Indian Wells. But the last year's runner-up, Novak Djokovic, will not be competing at this year's tournament as he withdrew due to a right shoulder injury, and he will leave the top three as a result. Now, starting with Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 champion, he has a very interesting draw because he could open up against none other than Joao Fonseca. And this is not going to be the first time they actually play in Miami. They played at an exhibition in Miami last year in December, but it would be their first official tour-level meeting. Joao, he would have to get by Fabian Marozan, though, who beat him actually in Rome last year. But I do think, judging from both Fonseca having the crowd support and with how well he played in Indian Wells, he would go through that match to ultimately face Carlos. I honestly think that Joao has what it takes to beat Alcaraz. I know that might sound crazy, but again, he impressed me so much with how well he played at Indian Wells. But I think it could be a big ask for him to bring that level once again to Miami. Although the atmosphere will be even more crazy because, like Alex DiMonor said, the Miami Open is almost like the Rio Open with how many Brazilian supporters are out there cheering for Joao. But I think that should this matchup happen, which I think it will, I'll say Alcaraz will move through in three sets. I anticipate Joao at least getting a set because I do think he's the type of player to bring his best for the big matches. But I think ultimately Alcaraz will be a little bit too tough. But that's for sure gonna be a match you have to watch with your popcorn in your hands. Now, Carlos is projected to face Sebastian Corda, the American, in the third round, and Corda, he's a solid player, but does he have what it takes to beat Alcaraz? I'm not quite sure. Giovanni and Petri Peticard is there as well, but the Frenchman has really been struggling this season. He has not won a top 100 match since Auckland. Karen Hatchinoff in the fourth round could be Carlos's biggest threat of this entire section. As while Alcaraz leads the head-to-head six to nothing over Karen, their last two matches in Rome last year and Doha this year were very tight three setters. There's also Luciano Dardari and Marcos Gidon there as well, who are both, you know, strong players, but I do think that Hatchinoff would move through there to face Alcatraz in the round of 16. And there I will have Carlos improve to 7-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Moving down, we have Taylor Fritz's section. And first starting up top with Casper Roode and his little part of the draw, it's very interesting because he will get the winner of Ethan Quinn and Hubert Hercotch. Both these guys have not really done much lately. Quinn he beat Hercotch at the Australian Open this year, so Huby would be looking for revenge. I think Herkotch will get his revenge here. He is a former champion, I believe, from 2021. So I think Huey would get through that match to face Rude, which would be a pretty interesting second-round matchup. Down there below is a talented 17-year-old Frenchman, Moyes Kwame. He's going to be making his Miami Open debut, his first 1000-level tournament. And he's only played one tour-level main draw match, which was in Montpellier earlier this year, where he got through qualifying and pushed then world number 83 Kovesevich to three sets. Moyce will face a qualifier in round one and then would face Yer Lehechka, who has not earned a top 30 win since Shanghai. Taylor Fritz and Jack Draper are projected to meet in the third round, and that will be their sixth career meeting. Jack leads the head-to-head three to two and won their last meeting at Indian Wells last year. Both men, though, have challenging opening round matches as Jack could face Riley Opelka and then Taylor could meet Dana Shapovalov. I think both Opelka and Shapovalov have have the potential to upset both those guys. But I think that Jack, who is coming off a pretty solid run to the Indian Wells quarterfinals, this is going to be a little bit of a tough one for me to call, honestly. And it's between really for me, Draper and Fritz. And yeah, maybe rude. Lehezka really has not done much this year, so I'm kind of counting him out from going on a deep run. But still, any of those four seeds can make it through. But I don't know, I'll go with hmm, I'll go with Jack Draper to move through there. I'd say. Next is Lorenzo Musetti's section, and we could have an all-Italian showdown in the fourth round between Lorenzo and Flavio Caboli. This is a pretty decent draw for Lorenzo, and I think it'll be good for him to potentially get his Moxie back from that Australian open injury. Flavio Caboli, he won a couple titles this past month, Acapulco and the mixed doubles title at Indian Wells alongside Belinda Bencic. Kaboli could meet Grigor Demidrov in his opening round match, although Rafael Kalinone is pretty strong. Tommy Paul might be favorite though to move through of this entire section. Kaboli, he did win his lone match against the American Paul back in 2024 at the Cincinnati Open 7-5 in the third. But Paul, meanwhile, has a one-to-nothing head-to-head edge over Musetti as he won their 2024 Queens Final. Again, I think it's going to be between, in my opinion, Musetti, Paul, Kaboli. I think maybe Jiju Burgs and Jensen Brooksby could do something there to maybe surprise Musetti. Not sure, but I think I'm going to go with Tom B. Paul and move through there. I think he has the American crowd support. He didn't look that impressive against Joao Fonseca and End Wells, although Joel played great, but I think this could be an opportunity for him to do something big at the 1000 level. Next is Alex DiManor's section. He is the fifth seed. And once again, Di Manor is projected to face Alexander Bublick in the fourth round. And both Alex and Alex, both De Manor and Bublick, they could face former STEM finalists in their opening round matches, Beratini for Bublick and Stefano Citipas for Di Manor. What's interesting is while Citipas is on a three-match losing streak, he has an impeccable 11-1 head-to-head against De Manor. A few French-speaking guys are there as well, between Arthur Fees and Valentin Vacherot. Feast made the quarterfinals in Miami last year, and he also just made the quarterfinals at Indian Wells last week. De Manor did beat Feast in Rotterdam in straight sets, although Arthur was just in his second tournament post-injury layoff, and I feel like he's already improved a lot since Rotterdam. So I'm honestly feeling him to take this section. Now, transitioning to the bottom half of the draw, we have American Ben Shelton in his section. I'm very interested to see Ben in his overall health because he was pretty sick and ending well. So I do think he maybe had enough time to get over whatever he was dealing with. But it still might be difficult to recover from being ill and not potentially practicing as much as he would have liked. I'm praying we get a fourth-round clash between Ben and the 2023 champion Dido Medvedev. They played once technically, but it was Laiver Cup, which Shelton won in a 10-point tie break. Medi is playing of, of course, exceptional tennis right now, making the Indian Wells finals and beating Alcaraz in the semifinals. The biggest threats to this potential Shelton Medvedev meet down or meeting is I think Gabriel Diallo for Ben Shelton and also Ugo Umber for Shelton, whereas for Mehdi, I'd say Kovesevich and then Sarondalo. But I think we will indeed see it. And initially I had Ben coming through this one, but something had me change my mind. And instead, I'm picking Mehdi to move through to the quarterfinals. Next is Alexander Zverev section, and it's pretty interesting. Once again, he could play Brandon Nakashima in the third round. Zverev got the better of Nakashima winning a tight three-setter at Indian Wells when they faced off in the round of 32. And Nakashima has never beaten Zverev, I believe, in six or seven meetings. So we'll see if Brandon, if he gets through there, through there to face Zverev, if he can actually do something. Shout out to also American, young American Martin Dahm. He looked good in Montpellier earlier this year. Uh talented lefty. Speaking of talented lefty Americans, there is also Learner Tien who could have a rematch himself against Alejandro Davidovich. Falkina. They played a pretty memorable fourth-round match at Indian Wells where Tien had to save two match points before defeating Falkina. Davidovich Falkina 7-6 in the third set. I do think Tien has a pretty tough draw. He could open against Miramir Kechmanovic, who nearly beat him and Delray earlier this year. So I don't know. I think it'll be a little bit of a tough ask for Lerner to move through this section. I think if he did, I would be very impressed. Um, I'm gonna go with the wild card though. I think on paper, maybe you should say Zverev should move through, but I'm more feeling Davidovich fucking up for whatever reason. So I'm gonna have the Spaniard come through to make the quarterfinals. Seventh seed Felix Soger Aliasim section is also pretty interesting as Arthur Render Kernesh is his projected third-round opponent, but Render Kinesh is a very dangerous opponent, as we saw in his match between him and Carlos Alcaraz at Ending Wells. Down there below, you got Francis Tialfo, who could meet the defending Miami Open Champion Jakob Menjik. Tiafo played well at Ending Wells for the two matches that he won over Brooksby and Kaboli. Menjik, he I think will be favored in this matchup with Tiafo. He won their lone previous meeting in Davis Cup late last year, only dropping five games. But Magik, this is gonna be his first time defending a big title like this. So I'm wondering how he'll be able to deal with the pressure because if he does not do well, he is very likely to drop outside the top 25. You know, I think Magic on paper, you know, considering how he had a lot of success last year, he should maybe move through this section. I think it's still gonna be between him and Felix Oger Al-Yassim. But I think I'm gonna go with the more, I guess, safe pick and have Felix move through there. Just because I think that Yaqah might indeed feel the pressure of being the being the defending champion rather than feeling more comfort being at a place where he had a lot of success 365 days prior. Last but not least is the 2024 champion Yannick Center in his section. I think Andre Rublev might be Yannick's biggest threat here in this little section. I'm not really seeing Corinthi Mute or Tomas Mahash wrecking havoc. I also think maybe Cam Nori could do something. He played well at Indian Wells, and that potential second round match between Nori and Mickelson would be, I think, a great match. But overall, don't really think anyone is seeing Yannick in this section, so I'm gonna be having him move through to the quarterfinals. Quickly going over my predictions, I'm having a semifinal match between Al Kadaz and Feast, then an Indian Wells final rematch between Medvedev and Center. I'm gonna once again predict a Sin Kadaz final, with this time Yannick taking home the title. Now moving on to the women's side, we have had a few withdrawals. Emma Navarro, she wasn't even entered into the draw, but she would have been seated if she were in the draw. She's not playing. Another Emma, Radukanu, she apparently is not feeling well. She's ill, so she will not be competing in the 305, as well as my joint. She also withdrew before the tournaments. As I alluded to in the intro, the defending champion Arena Sabalenka would be looking to follow in Iga's Fiontek's footsteps as she'll be trying to go for the Sunshine Double. No woman has done that since Iga did it in 2022. Sabalenka, I think she has a pretty decent section. I think it's a little bit more favorable compared to Andy Nell's at least. Instead of Neo Miyosaka, potentially in the round of 16, she'd have Madison Keys. And there are a few little interesting matches in that lower part of the draw. I'm not really anticipating Ching Yu Wong to do much damage to Sabalenka. She's on a three-match losing streak, but you never know. I think she can maybe take a set at least off of the Belarusian. Looking down, we have a round one match between Americans Jennifer Brady and Sloan Stevens. And at least with this match, a losing streak will be broken because Jennifer has not won a match period since the China Open in 2023, where Sloan has not won a tour-level main draw match since Wobbled in 2024. So at least one of those women will be back in the winner circle. The winner of that one would face Junction Wen, who is still on the comeback trail due from that right elbow injury. I think that Jennifer will win between she and Sloan. Sloan, I don't know about her. She just lost love and won at the Austin 125, qualifying, mind you. Madison Keys, as I mentioned earlier, she's here. And Maddie needs to watch out for Antonia Ruzich, who beat both Brady and Jung at Inding Wells. Still, I think Madison will be Arena's biggest threat. Jung, I think maybe she needs a tournament or two before we consider her a legit threat to the top woman right now. But I still think, despite Madison and how well she's capable of playing, I think at this stage she doesn't have the Moxie to really take down a Sabalanka. So I'm going to be having Arena move through to the quarterfinals. Next is Jasmine Paolini section. Paulini made the quarterfinals last year, losing to the eventual champion Sabalanka. But Jasmine has not won more than two matches at a single event this entire year so far. She will seek revenge against Taylor Townsend in the second round, potentially as Taylor alongside Katarina Sanyakova beat Paolini and her good friend Sara Irani in the Indian Wells double semifinals. We have a trio of big hitters in that upper half of Paolini's little section, as there's Yelena Ostapenko, Dania Sremska, and Ashton Kruger, all of whom could do big things and also little things this tournament. So a few wild cards there. They can honestly go through and make the quarterfinals. But I think Alina Fitolina will still be the favorite out of all the women here. She's just been just on it this entire season. She's made the semifinals or better at nearly every tournament she's played in this season. So I could see her not, I don't think she'll continue the semifinal streak, but I think that she will go on another decent run here in Miami. You also have to keep an eye out for a few talented players. 17-year-old Aussie Emerson Jones received a wild card. You also have Haley Baptiste, who has had some strong results. She beat Lumila Samsonova, actually, who's here en route to making the Abu Dhabi semifinals. Samsonova, she has had a rough season thus far. I believe she's on a four-match losing streak right now. But yeah, I'm going to be picking Alinas Fitzalina to move through to the Elite Eight. Next is Alena Robakina's section, two-time finalist here in Miami. And she, I think, has one of the more difficult sections. Yulia Putinsova, you gotta keep an out for her. Putinsova opens against Janice Jen. And I feel like if I'm Robakina, I would rather Jen move through because Putinsiva, she actually has a two-to-one head-to-head advantage over Robakana. Granted, Yulia's last win over the cut over her countrywoman was in 2021, but the last time they played in 2024 in Madrid, which Robokina won, I believe Putinsova had a match point at least. So I think there's something about Putinseva's game that can cause problems for Robakina. We could also see a rematch between Robakina and Marta Kostuk. Elena defeated Marta 6'4-6-4 in Indian Wells last week. A pretty competitive straight sets match. So maybe Marta could get her lick back. I'm not sure. Then moving down there, we could once again, well, we didn't see it, but at Indian Wells, Naomi Osaka and Eva Yovic were projected to meet in the third round, but Eva lost. But this time we could see them meet again. I think Eva has the more challenging road to the third round as she could face Paula Badosa. Bedosa, she's a little bit hit or miss, and she is prone to various injuries. So I would still favor Eva to move through that one. Naomi, meanwhile, is likely to face Abu Dhabi champion Sarah Bailick, the young Czech lefty woman. I think that Osaka, though, would come through that one because I just think while Baileck can be tricky and she can get a lot of balls back in play, I think Osaka's power will be a little bit too much for her. And the same thing for this potential Osaka Jovic matchup. I think Eva, of course, is very talented and can deal with power fine, but I just think that Naomi has a few more weapons for the young 18-year-old to handle. So I would have Osaka moving through to the round of 16 to ultimately face Rabakna. And I'm hoping and praying that that matchup happens because Naomi and Elena have actually never met before on tour. So I think it would be a good one. Naomi, she has a lot to prove as she lost pretty handily two and four to Arena Sabalenka at Indian Wells. I don't know. I think something is having me side with Naomi here. I think that she could do her big one right now. And I feel like I can't really give a solid explanation as to why I'm having her here. It's just more of a feeling. So I know this might sound crazy, but instead of Elena Robac and I'm moving through to the quarterfinals, I'm going to be having Naomi Osaka come through. Don't attack me, y'all, but I know that sounds crazy. So yeah. But moving on, the defending runner-up, Jessica Pagula, is the fifth seed, and she could face Venus Williams in round two, who looks to snap her eight-match losing streak against Francesca Jones, the Brit British woman, who she actually practiced with in Austin recently. Jones is ranked 93rd in the world, and she has a good game or she has a decent game. I saw her play in Austin, but she's also low on confidence as she has not won a match since making the Auckland quarterfinals, although she has been dealing with injury or she did deal with injury around that time. So she could be on the comeback trail. I'm sorry, V, but I think Francesca Jones got it here. But maybe Venus in her intimidation factor could do something. I mean, it didn't really do much against Deanne Perry or the other woman that she faced, but besides Peyton Stearns, we'll we'll see. But moving on, I think that Jessica will be a big favorite here just based on how well she's been playing thus far this year. I think she'll be a big favorite to reach her eighth straight quarterfinal, which is insane. Now, Layla Fernandez, though, you gotta keep an eye out for her because Fernandez has given Pagula fits previously, and she won their last meeting in DC last year. So I think out of all the women here in this little section, Fernandez might be the most dangerous to Pagula. Ikaterina Alexandrova really on paper should be Pagula's biggest threat, but the Russian has been poor. She's on a four-match losing streak. I don't know if I see Jacqueline Krishna doing too much, nor do I see Peyton Stearns doing a whole lot. Shout out to young Austrian Lily Tiger. The one-handed backhand is nice. And maybe she can go in a little bit of a run and upset Alexandrova, similar to how Talia Gibson did in Indian Well. So maybe look out for her to do her big one. But ultimately, I think Pagula takes this section. Now moving on to the bottom half, we have Amanda Anismova, and she could have an interesting second round encounter with Ale Tamyanovich. Eva Lee is here, and she could play her first tournament since I believe Australia. She suffered from a knee injury. Deanna Schneider and Belinda Bencic down there are projected to meet in the third round. Um, there's also a few decent players like Teresa Valentova as well as Zayn Upsonmez, Beatrice Hadaj Maya. I don't know, but I think it's gonna be between Bencic and Anis Mova here for me to make it through this section. I think Belinda won their last meeting, which was Indian Wells last year, but I think that here Anismova would get her lick back. So I'm gonna be having her move through to the quarterfinals. Next is another American, which is Coco Goff, who has actually never made it to the quarterfinals in the 305, which is kind of like her home tournament. Coco's also dealing with the left arm injury from Indian Wells, where she was forced to retire from her third-round match against Alex Ayala. It's a so-so draw for Coco. She has an opportunity for revenge against Elisabetta Cocheretto in the second round, as Cocheretto defeated Goff and Doha in straight sets earlier this year. And you also have Maria Sakri as a potential third round opponent. Sakri has been playing well or at least better lately, although Goff beat the Greek woman pretty handily, and they are not at cut match early. This year as well. Up top here, we have yet another Linda Noskova and Sorana Kristea match on the horizon. I know these two are tired of meeting each other because they've met the last two in thousand tournaments in both Dubai and Indian Wells. Kristella won their Dubai match, whereas Noskova won Indian Wells. I honestly can see the winner of this one winning this entire section. Alisa Murtens is there, but I think Noskova is gonna be the favorite here. I think she's gonna be riding the confidence high from making the semifinals and Tannis Paradise. So I'm gonna be having her move through there to potentially face Coco. Now, honestly, if Noskova and Golf face, I would choose Noskova to move through. Yes, golf is 2-0 against the Czech, but both those meetings were in 2023 where Noscova was not the player that she is now. And I just I'm just worried about Coco and the injury aspect of it. She very well could be 100% fine, but I don't know. Also, just her poor track record in Miami isn't making me confident in her ability to go deep. Also, the serve, I'm just not really overall confident in Coco's game right now. She's just such a wild card, but she I wouldn't be surprised if she came through. But for me, the pick is gonna be Linda Noscova to move through. The penultimate section belongs to Mira Andreva and her doubles partner from Indian Wells, Victoria Mboko, is her projected fourth round opponent. They played twice already this year, splitting their meetings in Adelaide and Doha. Both these two ladies should move through to face one another in the fourth round, but both McCartney Kessler and Magdalena Freck won their last matches against Andreva. So Mira could be at risk. Mboko is also in better form and more confident right now, so I would have Vicky move through regardless. Last but certainly not least is Ego's Shiontek section, and the 2022 champion could see a rematch with Alex Iyala in the third round. Iala defeated Xiontek in straight sets in the quarterfinals here in Miami last year, although Ego was able to get revenge on the clay in Madrid. Alex she could be feeling the pressure of defending semifinal points, but honestly, but honestly, I would not be surprised if she got another win, another Xiantech scalp here. Because Ega, I'm just not so sure about her game. I she hasn't made a semifinal of a tournament actually since winning that 500 turn title. And where was it? Seoul. So I don't know, man. I don't know. But I think if it's not Ayala, it could be Clara Towson. Carolina Mohova, she got beaten badly by Shiantec, only won two games when they faced off at Indian Wells. Although, granted, Ega plays even better at Indian Wells. But I've been waiting for a big result from Towson this season that hasn't yet come. I feel like this could be her chance. She beat Muhova in Dubai last year in their lone meeting, and she also beat Ega in Montreal in their previous meeting. So it's a little bit of an open section for me, but I'm gonna be picking the Danish woman to move through here to the quarterfinals. Giving my predictions, I'm going to be having in the semifinals Sablanka and Pagula rematch of last year's finals, as well as Anisemova and Boco, and then in the finals, I'm having Sablanka and Boco with Mboko actually winning the title. I think that's on paper, it might sound a little bit crazy, but it's really not, considering how well Vicky has been playing this season. I think she's been inching closer and closer to really testing Sablanka, and the next time she faces her, which could be here in the finals of Miami, I think she'll at least get a set. And if she can get a set, why not too? And I also think it would be a pretty cool full circle moment for Vicky considering how she kind of had her first, it wasn't a big breakthrough, but she kind of burst onto the scene for a lot of people, including myself and Miami last year, where she pushed Paul Bodoza in a tight three setter. So for her to come back 365 later 365 days later and lift the winner trophy, I think that would be a great story. So I'm feeling umboco for the title, but yeah, that is all I have for my Miami Open preview and predictions. Let me know your thoughts on my picks and give your own predictions in the comments. I'll be sure to give my thoughts on y'all's thoughts as well. And again, make sure you subscribe and click that notification bell so you're notified whenever I post my next video, which is Miami Open related, of course. Thank you all so much for watching and for your support. I will see you all next time here on the Christians Court.