DAY 6 PREVIEW: FEDERER AND OSAKA ON STADIUM COURT, FERRER’S FAREWELL CONTINUES

By Tucker Verdi

Miami Gardens, FL — The middle weekend of the 2019 Miami Open presented by Itaú will get underway this morning at 11:00AM ET on the outer courts, while play on Stadium Court and Grandstand will begin at noon. No. 30 seed Stan Wawrinka will start it off inside Hard Rock Stadium against Filip Krajinovic, which will be immediately followed by World No. 1 Naomi Osaka taking on No. 27 seed Hsieh Su-wei.

Everyone’s eyes will be on Stadium Court around 4:00PM ET when 20-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1 Roger Federer walks out for his first match of the 2019 Miami Open. The three-time winner of the Butch Buchholz trophy will face qualifier Radu Albot, and will look to improve on last year’s result when he was taken down in his opening match by Thanasi Kokkinakis. Federer will play the winner of the Wawrinka/Krajinovic match in the third round.

David Ferrer — playing this year’s tournament with a wild card as part of his farewell tour, will play his second match of his final Miami Open to begin the night session of Day 6. The veteran Spaniard will face World No. 3 and 2nd-seeded Alexander Zverev, who defeated him at the 2018 Miami Open.

The Ferrer/Zverev match will be followed by the last match of the night on Stadium Court, and it will be quite the matchup. In a rematch of their tight three-setter this past Sunday in the Indian Wells final, No. 8 seed Angelique Kerber will go up against 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu. Andreescu upset the German three-time Grand Slam champion in that final to claim her first WTA title.

Also in action is 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion and No. 3 seed Petra Kvitova, who will face No. 26 seed Donna Vekic. The two battled earlier this year in St. Petersburg with the Croatian Vekic coming out on top. Another Grand Slam winner in No. 6 seed Marin Cilic will take the court, going against qualifier Andrey Rublev on Court 1.

Several young stars are also scheduled for Saturday. No. 8 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas faces a Lucky Loser in his third round match — American Mackenzie McDonald. The 20-year-old Greek broke through at the Australian Open by defeating Roger Federer en route to his first Grand Slam semifinal. No. 20 Denis Shapovalov will play another Lucky Loser — this one being Dan Evans of Great Britain, in the opening match of the day on Grandstand.

In doubles action, defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan will take to Grandstand for their opening match of the 2019 tournament against Marton Fucsovics and Roman Jebavy. Their 2018 title was their fifth in Miami — the first four coming in 2007 2008 and 2014 2015, boding well for the chances at a repeat.

See the full order of play here, and get your tickets to see these stars and more in action here!