The Miami Open PTA 1000 starts on 24 March 2021

This used to be the second PTA tournament in the past - but because of the Covid problems the India Wells tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021.    The other part of the problem is that the price money of all tournament bar the majors have been reduced because of spectators not be allowed and the sponsors battling poor financial returns,

In any event it was previously known that Nadal and Federer - who failed badly when trying to return to tennis after injuries - and Nadal would not be playing in the Miami tournament.   They were now joined by Thiem - who said he wants to stay in Europe and prepare for the clay court season - the same approach as that of Nadal.   Djokovic - who won the Aussie Open Grand Slam  tournament has ducked out of the Dubai Open and is now doing the same in the case of the Miami tournament.  

The problem with the present scenario where players pick and choose in which tournament they want to play is that the players are not properly penalized in the ranking system  if they opt our of tournaments,   In the past the players who missed out tournaments would have the points they gained the previous year deducted in full from the ranking points,   In view of the Covid 19 problems the penalty in ranking points is 50% at present,   

The absence of Djokovic (1), Nadal (3), Thiem (4) and Federer (6) - change the scenario drastically.    It seems like od the top players only Medvedev, Tsitsipas (5) and Sverev (7) are certain entries - but the entry of Rublev (8) is still in doubt, 

In any event u further report on this tournament will be posted as soon as more info is available,       

Nadal, Djokovic and Federer are out as surmized, but they are lucky not to lose  points in ranking through absence from tournaments.   The ranking system in fact favor non-participants like the above.

The top ten seeds are as follows:-

1     Medvedev

2     Tsitsipas

3     Sverev

4      Rublev

5      Schwartzman 

6     Shapovalov

7      Bautista-Agut 

8      Goffin

9      Dimitrov

10    Fognini   

There are 22 other ranked players who will not play in Round 1 of the tournament .    The Round 1 matches starts tomorrow  and the Round 2 games are all on Friday,    Some observations  about the rankings and draw follows:-

*     Karatsev who reached the  semi in the Aussie Open and won the Dubai Open has moved on the ranking scale from no 84 the beginning of the year to position 27.   After losing to him Shapovalov said he should b in the top 20 on the ranking scale,    A good performance at the Miami tournament will get him into the top 20 players,

*      Harris is now the highest ranked SA player at 52.

*     The draw has been hard on Fucsovics.   After losing to Rublev in Rotterdam and in Dubai, Fucsovics  said he hopes never to play against Rublev again.   However, he has a problem - he will have to play Rublev in Round 3 if both win their Round 2 matches,         

Andrew Murray was supposed to play Lloyd Harris in round one - but he has bolted from the  tournament and Harris is now to playing Nava - a qualifier in Round 1.    Harris  is likely to win easily.   

Round  1 has been  completed and there are now  32 Round 2 matches to be played over the next two days.    The 32 seeded players are involved  in the due matches  and the top 10 players will face the following  opponents:-

1     Danill Medvedev   vs   YH Lu   

2     Stefanos Tsitsipas  vs   D Dzumhur                 

3     Alexander Sverev   vs   Emil Vuusuvuori

 4     Andrey Rublev  vs   T Sandgren

5      Schwartzman     vs   Y Uchiyama

6     Denis Shapovalov  vs  I Ivashka      

7     Roberto Bautista-Agut  vs  Lloyd Harris (walk over) 

8     David Goffin  vs  James Duckworth

9     Giorgi Dimitrov vs  Cameron  Norrie

10   Fabio Fognini   vs  S  Korda      

No 8 Goffin lost against Duckworth -  was beaten 6-3.6-1.

No  9 Dimitrov lost against Cameron Norrie/

No  3  Sverev lost to the 19 year-old  Emil Vuusuvuori (a qualifier) 

A number of lower seeds have thus far also lost,   The following are examples:-

Opelka, Basilashvili and Evan s  

Duplication

The 1/16 Finals  Round 3 will be as follows:-

Upper Half of the Draw

1    D Medvedev vs  Al Popyrin

16  Dusan  Lajovic  vs  F Tiafoe 

11  F Auger-Aliassime  vs  18 John Isner

31  J-L Struff vs 7 Roberto Bautista-Agut

E Vuusuvuori vs  M Ymer

21  Jannak Sinner  vs  14  Karen Khachanov

Cameron Norrie vs 22  Taylor  Fritz 

32  Andrey  Bublik  vs   James Duckworth

The victory of  Vuusuvuori over Sverev has turned the last four matches into a lottery.

Of the 16 seeded players involved in the previous round  10 win their matches  and  6 failed to make it into this round,    After this round a further 6 seeded players will be out of contention    Looking at the results the highlighted  players will likely to win in this round and will go through to Round 4.     

 Bottom Half of the  Draw

25  A  Mannarino  vs   5   D Shwartzman

17  A Karatsev  vs  S Korda 

M  Cilic  vs   L Musetti

25  M   Fucsovics vs  4   A Rublev

6   D Shapovalov  vs   26  H  Hurkacz

20   U Humbert  vs   12  M Raonic

D E Galan-Riveros  vs   24  L Sonego

28   K Nishikori  vs   2   S  Tsitsipas

Based on what I aw in the matches played I have highlighted the players I think will go through to the Round 4.      

Of  the  16 seeded players 12 made it through to this Round and 4 failed to do so,.   Only  Fognini  of the top 10 players involved did not make it through to this round,   

Top Half of the Draw

1  Danill Medvedev  vs   Frances Tiafoe 

7  Roberto Bautista-Agut  vs  18   John  Isner 

21 Janmak Sinner  vs   Emil Vuusucuori

22  Taylor Fritz  vs   32  Alexander Bublik

If  Medvedev cannot play in Round 4 due to injury and the relatively unreliable Bautista-Agut is beaten by Isner - there will be none of the top 10  seeded  players remining in the top half of the draw in the quarterfinals.   

Of the other 6 players involved in Round Four  4 are seeded between 18 and 32 - while two players are unseeded.             

Bottom Half of the Draw

5   Diego  Schwartzman  vs   Sebastian Korda

4    Andrey Rublev  vs  Marin Cilic

12   Milos Raonic vs  26   Hubert Hurkacz

 2    Strefanos  Tsitsipas  vs  24 Lorenxo  Sonego

  Of the 16  players  involved  3 of the Top Ten seeded players made it through  to Round 4 - 3  lower seeded  players and 2 unseeded players made it through to  Round 4,.   Unlike  the case of  the Top Half of the Draw 7 matches was finished in 2 sets and only the match between Nishikori and Tsitsipas went to 3 sets.        

Medvedev suffered badly from cramps  during the third set of the match against Al Popiryn - he could barely walk - but won the set anyway.   Would in fact be surprised if he can play in the Round of 16 and a walkover by his opponent is quite likely,             

The Round 4 matches are all played today  and I highlighted the likely winners.

Top Half of the Draw

1  Danill Medvedev  vs   Frances Tiafoe 

7  Roberto Bautista-Agut  vs  18   John  Isner 

21 Jannik Sinner  vs   Emil Vuusuvuori

22  Taylor Fritz  vs   32  Alexander Bublik

A win by Medvedev depends on whether  he fully recovered from the problem he had in Round 3.   Sinner also  suffered from heat exhaustion in Round 3, but managed it carefully and did it through to Round 4 - Vuusuvori may give him a hard time though,   Isner entirely depends on his first serves and winning tie-breaks of which he won 2 in Round 3.   He is vulnerable though - but should beat Bautista-Agut on the basis that the latter's performances thus far in the series were not entirely convincing,                 

Bottom Half of the Draw

5   Diego  Schwartzman  vs   Sebastian Korda

4    Andrey Rublev  vs  Marin Cilic

12   Milos Raonic vs  26   Hubert Hurkacz

 2    Stefanos  Tsitsipas  vs  24 Lorenxo  Sonego

Schwartzman will have a hard time against the up-and-coming Korda  who easily beat Karatsev  in Round 3.   Rublev is in deadly form - winning 24 of the 30 games he thus far played in the series, and Civic should not beat him.   Raonic is not consistent and it depends which player turned up for the match.     

I with reason hesitated about whether  Bautista-Abut could beat  Isner - but in the end he did,   Isner - at 36 years of age - had up to today played in 11 tie-breakers in Miami and won them all.   That record was broken  today by Bautista- Agut in the third set.

Sinner won against Vuusuvuori  as well - so he is through to the quarters where he would meet either Bublik or Fritz.      

Of the 8 Round 4 games were 3-settes  and t was om those where the upset results occurred.  Another aspect was that in 7 games  played the younger players beat their older opponents.   The other game was between the  21  year-old Sinner and the 19 year-old  Vuusuvuori,

Sebastian  Korda is also a youngster and he did play very well against Schwartzman but only beat him narrowly.   I am sure he will be beaten by Rublev - who is on red-hot form and has beaten Schwartzman easily in the past,              

I with reason hesitated about whether  Bautista-Abut could beat Unser - but in the end he did,   Isner - at 36 years of age - had up to today played in 11 tie-breakers in Miami and won them all.   That record was broken  today by Bautista- Agut in the third set.

Sinner won against Vuusuvuori  as well - so he is through to the quarters where he would meet either Bublik or Fritz.       

The following are through to the Quarterfinals:-

Top  Draw

1      Danill Medvedev  vs     7   Roberto Bautista-Agut

21   Jannik Sinner   vs   29  Alexander  Bublik

Bottom Draw   

4    Andrey Rublev   vs   Sebastian  Korda (Q)

2   Stefanos  Tsitsipas  vs   29   Hubert Hurkacz  

The likely winners are highlighted.     

Semi finals2

7   Roberto Bautista-Agut    vs    21   Jannik Sinner     

4   Andrey  Rublev     vs      26  Hubert Hurkacz 

The fact is the  semi's are tomorrow and Rublev - who  won his four matches  played in two sets and is the only semi player to do so  as well - is the highest seeded  player to  reach the  semi's  and must now be the favorite to win in this Masters series/               

What deserve mentioning is that in this series youngsters like Korda, Sinner and Vuusuruori indicated that they are the players to be watched as new potential Top 10 players in future/.    Sinner was ranked 31 and is set to move up massively in the rankings - whole Korda and Sinner will move up to the top 40's in the rankings and the latter two will not need to qualify for participation in future series.         

A win in the final will likely move Rublev to no 7 in the rankings above Sverev  and good showings in the clay court series now coming next  - will push him above Federer to no 6 in the rankings,       The present highly controversial  ranking system protects the rankings of players like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.    If the normal system applies  after  August 2021 the situation as to rankings could change drastically and especially Djokovic and Nadal will have to play in more series to retain their  present  number 1 and number 3 rankings.   Federer is likely to drop out of the top 50 rankings before the end of this year.   The great Federer should rather retire from  professional tennis before that happens.   

However, the new rankings on Monday is bound to clarify  the situation before the clay court season starts in Monaco on  12 April  2021.            

Final will be between -

21 Jannik Sinner and  26   Hubert  Hurkacz