No breather for Indian Wells winner Naomi Osaka: At the WTA tournament in Miami, the Japanese player was drawn in round one against Serena Williams.
On Sunday evening of US time Naomi Osaka and her opponent Daria Kasatkina set off for Miami on a private plane, probably already knowing that she was expecting a very big task there in round one: The lottery drum spat out Serena Williams for the winner of Indian Wells. The 23-time major winner is playing in Florida for the second time after her baby break, at the BNP Paribas Open she was defeated by her sister Venus in round three. For the winner of this pop song between Osaka and Williams, the task won’t get any easier: In the second round Elina Svitolina is waiting.
Victoria Azarenka, also en suite at the start for the second time after a long absence, can compete with the young US-American Catherine Bellis – and test her form against last year’s US Open finalist, Madison Keys, if she wins. Their form, incidentally, is far from reaching the level of late summer 2017.
Simona Halep enters the tournament as number one, and two German players have also entered the seeded list: Angelique Kerber in tenth place, Julia Görges in twelfth. Both enjoy a walk-through, Kerber then either meets Johanna Larsson from Sweden or the Czech Katerina Siniakova. First top player on the branch of the double Grand Slam tournament winner is Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Görges, on the other hand, can expect a purely German duel: she is waiting for the winner of the encounter between Carina Witthöft and Tatjana Maria. Mona barthel has to deal with the Hungarian Timea Babos. Already in the qualification there is an interesting clash: Sabine Lisicki competes in round one with Andrea Petkovic.
It wasn’t easy for the surprise lady from Indian Wells: Amanda Anisimova, who also has a wildcard in Miami, plays Qiang Wang from China. And if I win, I’d run into number three in the world, Garbine Muguruza.
Here the single tableau of the ladies in Miami