Cruis’n USA: Indian Wells Doubles Finalists Will Fly Coast-to-coast for Miami Open Qualifying Debut
03.16.24
by Daniel Perisse
Less than 24 hours after playing the doubles final at Indian Wells, Calif., Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Australian Storm Hunter will have flown across the United States for their first-round matches at the Miami Open 2024 Women’s Qualifying draw, starting this Sunday, March 17th, at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Hsieh partnered with Belgium’s Elise Mertens to defeat Hunter and Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-4 in the California desert on Saturday afternoon. Hsieh, who is projected to return to No. 1 in the WTA doubles ranking on Monday, will be back in action Sunday afternoon against Belgium’s Greet Minnen on Court 5. In her last singles appearance in Miami, Hsieh reached the 2019 quarterfinals.
As for the Australian, who is ranked at No. 3 in the WTA doubles list, her match will be against Alize Cornet from France, a former World No. 11 in singles, on Court 7.
Luckily for both players, their matches will not start before 4 pm in Miami.
Back to the draw, one of the most experienced names is Italian Sara Errani, whose best run in Miami was in 2012, as a doubles finalist with countrywoman Roberta Vinci. The 35-year-old player from Bologna is a former French Open finalist and World No. 5 in Singles and No.1 in Doubles and who has won nine WTA Tour singles titles. Errani will play against Wild Card Alexandra Eala, from the Philippines, not before 3 pm on Court 2.
Nine American players will be on the court tomorrow aiming to stay one step closer to the main draw. Chicago native Taylor Townsend will face Brazilian Laura Pigossi, a singles gold medalist at the Santiago 2023 Pan-American Games, in the second match at Court 1.
Other Americans in the qualifying draw are Bernarda Pera, Robin Montgomery, Alycia Parks, McCartney Kessler, Claire Liu, Kayla Day, Katie Volynets, and Emina Bektas.
The Women’s Qualifying first-round matches start at 11 am and will be played on courts 1-7. Download the order of play for tomorrow and get your grounds pass tickets here.
