2019 Miami Open Women’s Singles Main Draw Announced
By Tucker Verdi
Sloane Stephens will begin her Miami Open title defense as the No. 4 seed in the same half as 10th-seeded Serena Williams, herself the winner of eight Miami Open championships, and current French Open title-holder and No. 2 seed Simona Halep.
Stephens could face a rematch of last year’s final with Jelena Ostapenko (No. 22) or Karolina Pliskova (No. 5) en route to the semifinals.
Williams will have to take down reigning WTA Finals champion and No. 6 seed Elina Svitolina to book a spot in the quarters, where she would likely face Halep. Or, in what would be their 31st meeting on tour, Serena could take on her big sister, the unseeded Venus Williams.
Reigning US and Australian Open champion and World No. 1 Naomi Osaka leads the top half of the women’s draw, with a trio Grand Slam champions standing in the way of a trip to the semis. Angelique Kerber (No. 8), Caroline Wozniacki (No. 13), and Garbine Muguruza (No. 20) will all be looking to knock out the top-seeded Japanese player.
3rd-seeded Petra Kvitová owns the last quarter, with No. 7 seed Kiki Bertens, No. 17 seed Madison Keys, and former Grand Slam winners Victoria Azarenka and Sam Stosur as potential opponents ahead.
While seeded players do get a bye into the second round, there is plenty of action scheduled for the first round.
Azarenka will face another former top-5 player in Dominika Cibulkova, who claimed the 2016 WTA Finals title in her debut appearance and reached the Miami Open semifinals in 2014.
Newly-crowned Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu will go for the Sunshine Double — the feat of winning Indian Wells and the Miami Open in the same year, and faces Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round.
Mari Osaka, the older sister of Naomi, was awarded a wild card for the 2019 Miami Open and will make her WTA singles debut appearance in a main draw with a first round matchup against a fellow wild card, American Whitney Osuigwe.
Check out the full Women’s Singles Main Draw here, and get your tickets to see the WTA’s top players in action today!