As the dust has barely settled from two weeks in the desert of Indian Wells, the Miami draw is out and main draw action for the women kicks off on Tuesday.  It has been difficult to put a full preview together for this tournament with very limited time and with qualifiers unlikely to be placed until after the main draw has begun.  Please vote in the poll at the bottom of the post for who you think will win Miami. As always, your opinions and comments about the draw are greatly encouraged 🙂

FIRST QUARTER: S.Williams (1) v A.Kerber (5)

Angelique Kerber

The world number one and defending champion, Serena Williams tops the 2014 Sony Open draw.  There are a few question marks surrounding Serena after some surprising losses this year to Ana Ivanovic (Australian Open, R4) and Alize Cornet (Dubai, SF).  Her first match will be against either Yaroslava Shvedova or Francesca Schiavone; the Italian player picked up her first singles win of 2014 in Indian Wells over Mona Barthel and had the unfortunate luck of drawing Serena early in Toronto, New York and Beijing in the latter half of 2013.  Serena’s first projected seed is Klara Zakopalova, who has been in fine form this year.  Sam Stosur and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova are the two main contenders in the section that will throw up Serena’s possible 4th round opponent.

Angelique Kerber endured a frustrating Indian Wells as she suffered a very surprising second round loss to Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor.  Her draw in Miami features several potential pitfalls.  Her second round match will be against Peng Shuai or Karolina Pliskova.  Peng has been doing extremely well in doubles with Hsieh Su-Wei.  A stat I came across today was that she is 11-0 in WTA finals with Hsieh! Peng remains a competent singles player although her results have been inconsistent with injuries often cropping up.  Pliskova has made a strong start to the year, reaching the final in Pattaya City and posting a 12-6 W-L record.  She also pushed Kerber hard in a tight two setter in Doha earlier this year. 

Sorana Cirstea and Ekaterina Makarova are both in this section and have beaten Kerber in the last year.  Kerber could meet Cirstea in the third round. who defeated her at this stage of the Sony Open in 2013.  Makarova is set to meet Sara Errani in the third round.  The Italian has not been in her best form this year and has looked short of confidence.  She was comfortably defeated by Eugenie Bouchard in Indian Wells and lost her most recent match with Makarova on hard courts in New Haven last year.

1st Round Predictions: Schiavone d. Shvedova in 3 sets, Garcia d. Wozniak in 3 sets, Pironkova d. Voskoboeva in 2 sets and Pliskova d. Peng in 3 tight sets

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: S.Williams v Makarova

SECOND QUARTER: M.Sharapova (4) v P.Kvitova (8)

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova heads into Miami with the realisation that her ranking could be on the slide once again if she fails to make significant inroads into this draw.  She fell to number 7 after Indian Wells and is defending finalist points from 2013.  Her draw is particularly tricky, but I have a feeling, one of those weird feelings that’s never right, I might add, that she will do much better this week.  Sharapova will open against Rio champion, Kurumi Nara or Annika Beck.  In the third round, she is projected to meet Lucie Safarova, who has been playing very well this year.  The Czech leftie is a potential banana skin and has the experience of defeating Maria although that did come when Sharapova was making her comeback from the shoulder injury.

Sharapova’s 4th round opponent will be a bit of a lucky dip.  The seeds in this section, Sabine Lisicki and Kirsten Flipkens, both fell in the 2nd round of Indian Wells.  Heather Watson, who could meet Flipkens in the second round, is looking back to her peak fitness after suffering from a bout of mononucleosis at this time last year.

Petra Kvitova and Miami are not a match made in heaven.  Miami always offers Kvitova problems with the heat and humidity, which affect her asthma.  Kvitova is projected to meet Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round.  Kvitova beat Kuznetsova in Indian Wells, 6-2 3-6 6-0; however I would fancy Kuznetsova in these conditions.  This section is reasonably strong with Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta the other two seeds.  Pennetta was crowned as a surprising, yet throughly deserved champion in Indian Wells.  Her run saw her knock out the top two seeds, Li and Radwanska in straight sets after overcoming some tough early matches against Taylor Townsend and Sam Stosur. However, different conditions and tiredness are unlikely to see her continue the triumph in Miami.

1st Round Predictions: Petrova d. U.Radwanska in 2 sets, Davis d. Zhang in 3 sets,

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: Sharapova v Ivanovic

THIRD QUARTER: S.Halep (6) v A.Radwanska (3)

Venus Williams

Without doubt, the third quarter is the one that is potentially most fascinating.  The one thing that screamed out from the draw when I first looked at it was the potential third rounder between Simona Halep and Venus Williams.  Both players have been making headlines with their  fine form this year.  Halep reached the semi-finals in Miami, which saw her crack the top five for the first time in her career.  Venus had been playing well, but things finally clicked in Dubai where she didn’t drop a set on the way to the title with a series of superb attacking displays.  If Halep and Venus play in the third round, I would be backing Venus.  Halep said in a post-match interview in Indian Wells that she was struggling with the heat.  Miami will be the same, but probably worse with the added humidity, which will not phase Venus at all.  Halep is likely to be a little tired, meanwhile Venus should be fresh as a daisy.  Venus also holds a 3-0 head-to-head lead over Halep including a three set victory in Tokyo at the end of 2013.

Agnieszka Radwanska bookends this section and her participation remains in doubt after she was hindered by a knee injury in the Indian Wells final, which she lost 6-2 6-1 to Flavia Pennetta.  Radwanska’s first match will be against Bojana Jovanovski or Romina Oprandi.  Radwanska would be best off skipping this event, but something tells me she could take to the court. However I don’t think she will be fit enough to notch up any wins as she proved in the final that not being able to run is pretty much a killer to her chances.  Therefore this section could be blown wide open.

Eugenie Bouchard is lurking although the Canadian player has some dangers in her draw.  Her first match will be against Bethanie Mattek-Sands or Elina Svitolina, who both have winning records over her.  Another player in her section is Roberta Vinci, who earnt her first win of the season in Indian Wells with a win over top teen, Madison Keys.  Vinci is a tough proposition for one of the younger players with her slice and variety.  Bouchard is more versatile than Keys and would still be the favourite in that possible match-up having played very well in Indian Wells.

1st Round Predictions: Dellacqua d. Voegele in 3 sets, Petkovic d. Torro-Flor in 2 sets, Meusburger d. Dominguez-Lino in 2 sets, Niculescu d. Zahlavova Strycova in 3 sets, Svitolina d. Mattek-Sands in 2 tight sets and Jovanovski d. Oprandi in 2 sets

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: V.Williams v Bouchard

FOURTH QUARTER: J.Jankovic (7) v Li Na (2)

Caroline Wozniacki

Li Na is relegated to the number two seed in Miami.  She made the semi-finals in Indian Wells, which was a rather impressive feat considering she was particualrly error-strone throughout the week both off the ground and on serve.  Li will face either Iveta Melzer or Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.  Daniela Hantuchova is a potential third round opponent; most of the seeds look to be in a good position to match their seeding, but Hantuchova is one of the few I think will be in danger.  Madison Keys, who plays fellows teen Anett Kontaveit in the first round, has another sweet looking draw.  However the American has not taken advantage of cavernous openings that emerged for her in Melbourne and Indian Wells.

Jelena Jankovic could be on course for another last 16 meeting with Caroline Wozniacki.  JJ destroyed Woz, 6-3 6-1 in Indian Wells.  Jankovic’s form this year has been pleasing, but she just seems to be coming up short of a really excellent result.  She has a reasonably tough draw in Miami, but like Indian Wells, I fancy her chances. The first seed Jankovic could meet is Garbine Muguruza, who lost her first match in Indian Wells handily to Kleybanova.  Wozniacki didn’t look to be in a good place after her loss to Jankovic, but she did manage two wins last week against players she lost too in 2013.  Drawing Sloane Stephens in the third round wouldn’t be so bad for Caroline as she has a 3-0 head-to-head lead over the American.

1st Round Predictions: Wickmayer d. Lepchenko in 3 sets, Tomljanovic d. Mladenovic in 2 tight sets, Puig d. Rybarikova in 2 sets, Scheepers d. Soler-Espinosa in 3 sets, McHale d. Zheng in 3 really tight sets, Keys d. Kontaveit in 2 sets and Kleybanova d. Melzer in 2 sets

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: Jankovic v Li

Who’s going to win?

This could be a really fine tournament for the Williams sisters.  Serena is my tip to win.  She is fully rested and I believe over the back injury that has slightly sidetracked her start to 2014.  She also loves the conditions in Miami.  Venus has a tough draw; however she proved through her displays in Dubai that she is razor sharp this year.  Her health problems are never going to fully go away so for her to reach the latter stages will require a significant physical and mental effort.

Moo’s Final Prediction: S.Williams d. Jankovic