Liya Davidov
- ⭐️ Men’s finalists and champion: Alexander Zverev vs. Carlos Alcaraz
- Men’s dark horse: Gaël Monfils
- Men’s early exit: Andrey Rublev
The top two seeds are sitting pretty in Miami with a straightforward run to the final. For Alexander Zverev, the only player that could hinder a deep run is Arthur Fils, who has forced three-set battles in all three meetings last year—not to mention winning one of those outcomes.
Where Carlos Alcaraz and the bottom half of the draw is concerned, he’s the fiercest competitor to meet in each round. Grigor Dimitrov, Novak Djokovic, and Daniil Medvedev the biggest hurdles in the Spaniard’s way, with Dimitrov being the only one in his quarter. Alcaraz has come out of the Sunshine Swing with one trophy to his name since 2022, and coming up short in tennis paradise leaves him with one trophy left to grab…
- Women’s finalists and champion: Aryna Sabalenka vs. Mirra Andreeva
- ⭐️ Women’s dark horse: Belinda Bencic
- Women’s early exit: Emma Navarro
She didn’t fail me as the dark horse pick for Indian Wells—girl wild-carded her way into the quarterfinals—and something tells me Belinda Bencic’s going to continue doing damage in Miami. As an unseeded player, it’s easy to brush over her name in the draw, especially considering a projected draw of Elina Svitolina in the second round followed by Karolina Muchova and Iga Swiatek.
With a closer look, however, we find a tied record against Svitolina, and a winning record against Muchova. It’s world No. 2 that could cause some problems for the Swiss, but Swiatek hasn’t had the greatest start to the year and is coming into Miami less grounded than usual. By the time both players reach the round of 16, Bencic will have both momentum, and belief.
