Completing five singles matches in a timely manner on a single court with a 1 p.m. start time was ambitious, and the Miami Open got bitten. Only four matches were originally scheduled on Stadium, but rain forced the fourth-rounder between Alexander Zverev and Arthur Fils onto Wednesday’s schedule. Conceivably, Wednesday’s start time could have been pushed ahead—all prior Stadium court sessions at this year’s Miami Open began at 12 p.m.—or one of the five matches could have been moved to a different court. Neither one of those decisions were made.
“I’m glad that the tours are finally helping the players,” said Coco Vandeweghe on TC Live, “but again, there is Grandstand, there’s other courts that maybe some matches could have gone off to, instead of filling up Stadium only.”
The event arrived at this predicament due to some compelling and competitive tennis much earlier in the day, starting with Alexandra Eala’s shocking, 6-2, 7-5 win over Iga Swiatek. Imagine if that had gone three sets?
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