The singles at the second Premier Mandatory tournament of the year concluded on Saturday in Miami with a Konta-Wozniacki final. Doubles is still to come on Sunday but my focus will now switch to Charleston. It was another exciting two weeks in Miami and this post brings together the highlights and best bits from the tournament including a recap of the final and links to memorable matches, shots and plenty more. All my previous Match Points tournament posts starting from 2016 can be found at the link HERE. Read on for the Match Points from Miami…
Singles Champion
Johanna Konta won the biggest title of her career, beating Caroline Wozniacki in Saturday’s Miami final, 6-4 6-3. There were nerves and tension from both players but Konta did a good job at not dwelling on missed opportunities and remaining focused. She was a little bit better on serve and on the key points, clawing her way out of a *15-40 hole when serving for the first set at *5-4. Wozniacki, who didn’t have her best day, required a medical time-out in the second set for a foot/ankle complaint. Still, a super tournament for Wozniacki who is putting herself in these final positions… i’m sure one will go her way soon.
And for Konta, damn impressive. I still think she is undervalued and underrated in what she is doing on the court right now. I think the level she produced this tournament wasn’t quite what she achieved at Sydney and the Australian Open, but the mental toughness and focus was there, beating off quality opposition in the shape of Halep, V.Williams and Wozniacki. Hats off to Jo and she will be back in the top ten in next week’s rankings at number seven.
Top Tweet
Loved this.
Super Stat (s)
A Lucic-Baroni special!
Firstly, her third round win over Agnieszka Radwanska was one of the best individual performances of the year so far. The first set was close to perfection.
And then in her quarter-final match against Karolina Pliskova, the pair were lethal on return with just one point won on second serve during the first set. Nine double faults didn’t help Mirjana!
Comeback Kid
Simona Halep recovered from a 4-6 2-5 deficit against Sam Stosur in the fourth round, saving a match point to advance to the quarter-finals, 4-6 7-5 6-2.
Memorable Matches
A shout out to the straight setters – it doesn’t have to go three sets to be a memorable match. Three matches that stood out for me this tournament were Karolina Pliskova vs. Yulia Putintseva (R3), Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Venus Williams (R4) and Caroline Wozniacki vs. Lucie Safarova (QF).
A final heads up for Sam Stosur vs. Peng Shuai (R3) which was also great!
Best Point(s)
Again, like picking a needle in a haystick but three points that stood out for me. Firstly, classed as a hot shot winner for Agnieszka Radwanska, but Wang Qiang contributed a lot to this wild point in the first set tiebreak of their second round match.
Drawing on one of the memorable matches from above, Yulia Putintseva produced some stirring tennis to save eight set points in the first set against Karolina Pliskova. Linked below is one of multiple terrific saves by Putintseva.
And a fun point between Simona Halep and Anett Kontaveit with a frantic Halep dash & winner after a net cord.
Best Shot
Another cracker from Kirsten Flipkens. The get from Jennifer Brady’s overhead is insane!
Wheels from Svetlana Kuznetsova, a sensational get!
Awesome volleying from Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Favourite Article
A big thanks to Jake S. for two guest posts on the blog at the start of the tournament. If anyone out there would like to write about their experiences of visiting a tournament for the blog then please get in touch!
Favourite Podcast
Really enjoyed hearing more about Ajla Tomljanovic’s comeback to tennis following over a year out due to shoulder surgery.
Tennis Draw Challenge Champion
Congratulations to GameSetWTA who won the Draw Challenge for Miami. To join in the fun, you can enter Tennis Draw Challenge and join the Moo’s Tennis Blog league.
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Yeah a very good win for Jo, another tough loss for Wozniacki.
I’ll be interested to see how both players fare on clay since neither have been particularly strong on that surface in the past.
LikeLike
Very happy for Konta 🙂 I like her and her game. However, I thought Wozniacki was playing nowhere near her best. @Andrew:Very curious to see how the clay court season turns out (e.g. Maria, Elina and Sveta).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well Sveta isn’t nearly as proficient a clay court player as many suggest. Her only really consistent clay tournament has been Roland Garros. She’s only won 3 clay titles in her entire career though!
It’s still too early to tell if Svitolina will be the same. She was pretty lacklustre on clay last year and she’s yet to pass the second round in Madrid or Rome.
As for Sharapova… I can’t see her winning titles right off the bat. I also think that women are going to enjoy trying to beat her. Aside from Kuznetsova and Puig, almost every top player has been vicious regarding her.
LikeLike