With the new rules within tennis that they will not have matches beginning after a certain time to cut out the super late finishes that had frankly become far too common in recent years, the Miami Masters is slightly out of line right now.
Rain on Tuesday has meant a couple of matches have been pushed back and the Sebastian Korda-Novak Djokovic Quarter Final was bumped on Wednesday and instead will be played alongside two other ATP Quarter Final matches. However, the two WTA Semi Finals are also scheduled to take place on Thursday and there is every chance that one of those will have to be played on Friday, especially with the potential of another late start.
The schedulers have all five Singles matches set to be played on the same main court, but the 1pm start time means they will want all to be relatively quick if they are going to get through the entire day of play.
With that in mind, the second Pick on this thread is one that may ultimately be played on Friday instead, but it is the way the tournament has shaken up thanks to the huge amount of rain delays that were in place a couple of days ago.
A win for the one selection on Wednesday has just turned the Miami totals back around after a slump in the middle of the week- with a strong finish, there is every chance that the poor outcome from the Indian Wells Masters Tennis Picks can be erased and push some momentum behind us prior to the clay court season getting underway.
In all likelihood, the first Picks from those tournaments will begin at the Monte Carlo Masters in the first full week of April with the opening events taking place in North America, Morocco and Bucharest.
The draws will determine if that is the case, but that is a matter for the weekend and the focus is on securing a few more winning selections before that.
Arthur Fils v Jakub Mensik: Two players who were young enough to compete in the Next Gen Finals at the end of 2024 meet in a big Masters Quarter Final on Thursday and the layers are struggling to split the two.
You can partly explain that away by the fact that Arthur Fils had to come from behind to beat Alexander Zverev in the Fourth Round on Wednesday. That match had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, but the rain in Miami meant having to wait, although the only benefit for Arthur Fils is that the upset over Alexander Zverev did not last more than two hours on the court.
However, while Arthur Fils was battling for a place in the Miami Quarter Final, Jakub Mensik had benefited from a walkover twenty-four hours earlier. Some of the rhythm may have been broken, but Mensik has had plenty of time to rest and recuperate for this big match as he looks for a win that would see him earn a new career high World Ranking at the event of the weekend.
Jakub Mensik is not Seeded in Miami and that means he has started a Round earlier than Arthur Fils so both players have had the same three wins to earn the spot in the last eight.
The 19 year old player from Czechia upset Jack Draper, the Indian Wells Champion, in the Second Round and Jakub Mensik has been serving very well in the conditions. The courts are playing pretty quickly in Miami and that has been an issue when it comes to the Mensik return and the slightly stronger numbers Arthur Fils has been producing in the event here should give him the edge.
In their meeting at the Next Gen Finals, Arthur Fils was able to produce the much more effective return play and he is playing well enough in Miami to believe he can do the same in this Quarter Final. Those Finals are played in a shorter set format, but the numbers on the day gave Fils a considerable edge and his performances this week look more in line with the season numbers and that should suggest that the higher Ranked player can at least maintain the standards set.
Jessica Pegula - 4.5 games v Alexandra Eala: The 19 year old Filipino has stood next to tennis royalty in her time graduating from Rafa Nadal's Academy, but Alexandra Eala had not really pushed her way onto the main WTA Tour before taking a Wild Card in Miami.
She did not even attempt to make the main draw in Indian Wells, but instead had been playing at the lower level events on the hard courts in Mumbai and Trnava. Little impact had been made there with a 2-2 record and Alexandra Eala had failed to Qualify for the Australian Open and the tournament played in Singapore.
With all that in mind, Alexandra Eala may have arrived in Miami with very little expectation- winning one match would have given the World Ranking a boost, but things have clicked together for the left-hander and it has been an amazing run through to the WTA 1000 Semi Final.
This run has guaranteed a place in the top 100 for the first time, which will open up other opportunities, but it has been anything but a lucky run and that is where the confidence could really grow. In Miami, Alexandra Eala has beaten Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek, three former or current Grand Slam Champions and all without dropping a set.
It has been an incredible run.
Alexandra Eala may feel she has nothing to lose and there will be plenty of respect for Jessica Pegula, but no sense of fear about playing the World Number 4.
The serve has been a little vulnerable, but Eala has impressed massively on the return numbers and that is going to be a key battle in this Semi Final considering how well Jessica Pegula has been serving in the conditions. It was that serve that kept Emma Raducanu at bay in the Quarter Final and the last American left in the WTA tournament will feel that there is still more to come from the return of serve.
It will be important to try and keep Alexandra Eala under pressure on both the first and second serve deliveries. The 19 year old has similar numbers behind both of those shots and so Jessica Pegula has to feel she can get into most rallies on the return, while also trying to get on top of the first strike momentum that landing her own opening shot can produce.
Some players on the WTA Tour have shown that they can ride the momentum all the way to a surprise title and Alexandra Eala has all of the momentum after the performances and results to work her way through to the Semi Final.
However, she is playing an opponent in Jessica Pegula that has been operating at a high level over the last month on the Tour and it may just see the World Number 4 find the breaks of serve to push clear of this handicap mark.
MY PICKS: Arthur Fils @ 1.91 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Jessica Pegula - 4.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (1 Unit)
Miami Update: 12-7, + 3.24 Units (19 Units Staked, + 17.05% Yield)
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