After an excellent week of coverage from Indian Wells, Miami is already starting to take quite a bit of flack with its lack of streams for the WTA tour. On Thursday, there were just two streamed WTA matches, which seems rather pathetic for a Premier Mandatory event.  In general, Miami really seems to have regressed, or perhaps it is just made to look worse by the dramatic strides that Indian Wells have made in recent years.

In the preview polls for who you thought would win Miami, Serena Williams was way out in front with 42% of the votes, followed by Simona Halep (18%) and Maria Sharapova (10%).  Rebecca Peterson also got a vote! In the mens, it was rather even with Novak Djokovic (30%) leading the way from Roger Federer (25%) and Rafael Nadal (20%).  Thursday’s biggest headline in Miami saw Bernard Tomic lose 6-0 6-1 to Jarkko Nieminen in the QUICKEST ATP MATCH EVER in just 28 minutes and 20 seconds.  I’m not judging (much) but perhaps this match was too soon in the comeback after hip surgery? You can watch a video of the final point of the match from The Grandstand HERE.

1. Alize Cornet v Andrea Petkovic (WTA, R2)

The prospect of another match between Alize Cornet and Andrea Petkovic is quite terrifying.  The pair played an epic match in Paris, which Cornet won, 7-6(8) 5-7 6-3 in three hours and two minutes.  Petkovic enjoyed a very solid win over Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor in the first round, 6-3 6-4.  She could have some mental baggage going up against Cornet, but that match in Paris proved there will be very little to call between these two.

Prediction: Cornet d. Petkovic in 3 sets

2. Eugenie Bouchard v Elina Svitolina (WTA, R2)

Eugenie Bouchard had a losing record against both of her potential secound round opponents.  She has drawn Elina Svitolina, who defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Tuesday in three sets.  Svitolina beat Bouchard in qualifying at Indian Wells last year.  Eugenie is now seeded for a Premier Mandatory event as opposed to qualifying for it, which shows the dramatic improvements she has made in the last year.  Svitolina is a very solid player and will provide Bouchard with a significant test.

Prediction: Bouchard d. Svitolina in 3 sets

3. Ajla Tomljanovic v Garbine Muguruza (WTA, R2)

Ajla Tomljanovic was in trouble at the beginning of her first round match against Kristina Mladenovic.  She quickly went down a double break in the first set, but recovered well to pull out a tight two set win, 7-6(4) 6-4.  It is remarkable how quickly Garbine Muguruza has gone from being the hunter to the hunted.  In her last two matches, she suffered a collapse trying to serve out the title in Florianopolis losing 11 consecutive games to Klara Zakopalova and a straight sets loss to Alisa Kleybanova in Indian Wells.  It’s a tough one to call where Garbine will go with this match.

Prediction: Muguruza d. Tomljanovic in 2 sets

4. Monica Puig v Caroline Wozniacki (WTA, R2)

2014 has been an injury-hit year for Monica Puig so far.  She won just her second match of 2014 on Tuesday as she defeated Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1 7-5, who was seeded in Indian Wells.  Caroline Wozniacki has had some rough moments in 2014 and announced in Indian Wells she was Mortensen-less.  Puig is a great competitor, but so is Caroline.

Prediction: Wozniacki d. Puig in 2 tight sets

5. Christina McHale v Kaia Kanepi (WTA, R2)

Christina McHale is enjoying her best run of form since a breakthrough year in 2012.  She made the final in Acapulco and had a commanding win over Zheng Jie in the first round, 6-4 6-2.  She looked incredibly at ease after the match in her post-match interview.  McHale now takes on Kaia Kanepi, who she defeated on her run through to the final in Mexico.  Kanepi suffered a surprising straight sets loss to Yaroslava Shvedova in Indian Wells.  Advantage McHale.

Prediction: McHale d. Kanepi in 3 sets

6. Roger Federer v Ivo Karlovic (ATP, R2)

Roger Federer was reportedly practising with Milos Raonic (Via @TheTennisNerds on Twitter) ahead of his first match of the week against Ivo Karlovic.  The Croatian giant has had a couple of duff draws after being paired with Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of Indian Wells.  Expect at least one tiebreak with Federer adjusting from Indian Wells, but it should still be straight sets.

Prediction: Federer d. Karlovic in 2 tight sets

7. Jiri Vesely v Feliciano Lopez (ATP, R2)

This season has seen Jiri Vesely make some promising advances on the tour.  In defeating Filippo Volandri in a straight sets first rounder, Vesely recorded a fifth ATP main draw victory in 2014.  He plays Feliciano Lopez in the second round, which is a very winnable match because Lopez can be erratic.  If Vesely wins he could meet Andy Murray in the third round.  Oh lord…

Prediction: Lopez d. Vesely in 3 sets

8. Philipp Kohlschreiber v Marcos Baghdatis (ATP, R2)

A few years ago, this would have been a match between two seeded players, but Marcos Baghdatis has endured a pretty major descent down the rankings in the last year, now currently at world number 143.  Philipp Kohlschreiber made the semi-finals in Dubai, but has generally been disappointing in 2014.  Baghdatis has the opportunity for the upset, but i’ll take Philipp.

Prediction: Kohlschreiber d. Baghdatis in 3 sets

9. Tommy Robredo v Dominic Thiem (ATP, R2)

Dominic Thiem continues to look mightily impressive as he edged past Lukas Rosol in the first round, 7-6(6) 6-4.  Rosol won a stacked challenger event in Irving last year, which puts Thiem’s win in context.  The Austrian player has successfully qualified for five tournaments this year and certainly goes in with chances against Tommy Robredo.  I recommend following Thiem on Facebook, who goes into great detail about all his matches.

Prediction: Robredo d. Thiem in 3 sets

10. Julien Benneteau v Ernests Gulbis (ATP, R2)

Two quarter-finalists from Indian Wells will meet in the second round of Miami.  Julien Benneteau had a tough first round match against British wildcard, Kyle Edmund, coming from a set and a break down to win in three sets.  Ernests Gulbis has looked extremely impressive since the Australian Open and despite losing his only match with Benneteau, should have enough in the tank to take this one in straight sets.

Prediction: Gulbis d. Benneteau in 2 tight sets

WTA 2nd Round Miami Predictions

Simona Halep d. Casey Dellacqua in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

Venus Williams d. Anna Schmiedlova in 2 sets

Dominika Cibulkova d. Yvonne Meusburger in 2 sets

Roberta Vinci d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in 3 sets

Elena Vesnina d. Alison Riske in 2 tight sets

Agnieszka Radwanska d. Romina Oprandi in 2 sets

Jelena Jankovic d. Varvara Lepchenko in 2 sets

Sloane Stephens d. Zarina Diyas in 2 tight sets

Carla Suarez Navarro d. Chanelle Scheepers in 2 sets

Madison Keys d. Daniela Hantuchova in 2 sets

Li Na d. Alisa Kleybanova in 2 very tight sets

ATP 2nd Round Miami Predictions

Fernando Verdasco d. Thiemo De Bakker in 2 tight sets

Kevin Anderson d. Horacio Zeballos in 2 sets

Richard Gasquet d. Alejandro Gonzalez in 2 sets

Grigor Dimitrov d. Albert Montanes in 2 sets

Kei Nishikori d. Marinko Matosevic in 3 sets

Andreas Seppi d. Radek Stepanek in 3 sets

David Ferrer d. Teymuraz Gabashvili in 2 sets

Andy Murray d. Matt Ebden in 2 sets

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. Adrian Mannarino in 2 very tight sets

Florian Mayer d. Ivan Dodig in 2 sets

Novak Djokovic d. Jeremy Chardy in 2 sets