Miami Open Men’s Singles Main Draw: Who Can Stop ‘El Numero Uno’?

Potential rivals for Alcaraz include Murray, Paul, Fritz, Sinner and Medvedev

by Daniel Perisse

Miami Gardens, FL (March 20, 2023) – The path for Carlos Alcaraz to defend the Miami Open presented by Itaú Men’s Singles title and maintain himself as the World No. 1 was unveiled this Monday and features a series of tough opponents for the Spaniard to face off at Hard Rock Stadium, including Andy Murray, house favorites Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, and Jannik Sinner.

Seeded No. 1 in the draw, Alcaraz is already in the second round and waits for Facundo Bagnis of Argentina or a qualifier/lucky loser. In the third round, he might have to face Murray in what would be their third time playing each other – series is split 1-1, with both matches played in 2021 –, the British defeated Alcaraz in the Indian Wells Masters 1000, under a similar surface as the Miami Open.

In the fourth round, the Spaniard might play Tommy Paul, who has won the only ATP-Tour fixture against Alcaraz so far, also on a hard court: 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 in the Canada Masters 1000 last year, in Montreal. Another home country player would be up in a possible quarterfinal: No.9 seed Taylor Fritz, the 2022 Indian Wells champion. This would be their first meeting.

Another possibility for the quarters would be No. 7 seed Holger Rune. Again, Alcaraz has no advantage in the head-to-dead against the Danish, as they split wins in two matches played. Rune has won the last meeting between them by retirement in the 2022 Paris Masters 1000, an indoor-hard tournament.

In the semifinal, there is a chance Alcaraz faces Sinner again. They played at that same round in Indian Wells this year and the Spaniard won 7-6(4), 6-3. In five previous matches, the current World No. 1 has won three, including the last two.

Casper Ruud, who lost to Alcaraz in the 2022 Miami Open and US Open finals, is in the same side of the draw and could only meet him in a potential semifinal. The Spaniard leads the head-to-head 3-0 against the player from Norway.

On the other side of the draw, No. 4 seed Daniil Medvedev is ready for another winning run to try to reach the Miami Open final for the first time, but he might have to face 2021 champion Hubert Hurkacz in a possible quarterfinal and 2019 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinal.

Men’s Singles first round matches begin on March 22. The qualifying draw takes place March 20-21, with 12 slots available in the 96-player bracket.

Find the full Men’s Singles Main and Qualifying Draws here and get your tickets here.