The big name players get into action at the Miami Open on Friday. Serena Williams and top seed Novak Djokovic will be playing on stadium court, at the new Hard Rock Stadium, usually the home ground of the Miami Dolphins NFL team.
The focus mode = on ✅
Practice time for @serenawilliams in the @MiamiOpen sunshine ☀️ pic.twitter.com/NOMGb6zOJI— WTA (@WTA) March 22, 2019
Our 6x champ took the court for the first time this afternoon.
Welcome back to Miami, @DjokerNole! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/TvlsBOM2D0
— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) March 18, 2019
As with other Masters 1000 tournaments, the top seeds get first round byes. Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz is coming off a quarter final showing in Indian Wells last week, and faced Italian Matteo Berrettini in the first round.
His new found confidence, and a career high ranking of 54, showed, as he dispatched of a player almost the same age and ranking, the score 6-4 6-3. But now it gets tougher, much tougher.
In the second round tonight Hurkacz meets Indian Wells champion Dominic Thiem
“Well it feels great of course, but it also feels very nice to explore a new site. I mean it doesn’t happen that we get, it doesn’t happen that often that we get to an all new site and this one is impressive and huge, something very new and unique to play, or to have a stadium in a stadium, so it’s very nice and of course I came here very happy.”
German Maximillian Marterer also has a tough second round, against 12th seeded Milos Raonic. Marterer battled through a three setter against American Taylor Fritz, who was one of several Amerians who lost in the first round.
