The Miami tournament continues to play catch up after Day 2 was washed out, but the Second Round of the WTA event has begun and there should be plenty of matches scheduled from that Round on Friday.
Some of those matches will only be put together at the conclusion of Day 3 and so any further selections will be added to this thread.
The opening totals from the tournament will also be updated and added to this thread on Friday when all of the first four selections have been completed.
Amanda Anisimova - 5.5 games v Ajla Tomljanovic: The peak of her career may be behind her, but that does not mean Ajla Tomljanovic is going to roll over for any opponent she faces on the Tour.
However, the gap is increasing between the Australian and the better players on the Tour and that will mean matches are taking away from her, even if she is giving her all on the court.
Ajla Tomljanovic has never been higher than World Number 32, but she is operating with a number 81 next to her name these days- after a slow start to the 2026 season, Tomljanovic has reached the Quarter Final in Austin and the Third Round in Indian Wells where she was able to upset a Seeded player in the Second Round.
That was the Number 30 Seed in Indian Wells, but in Miami she is facing not only a top ten Ranked opponent, but someone who has reached Grand Slam Finals at Wimbledon and the US Open last year and a player who is very comfortable on this surface.
Amanda Anisimova did reach the Fourth Round in Miami last year, but another good run here and moving past that stage would see her edge that much closer to the top four places in the World Ranking. The 24 year old has become an all-court player and credit has to be given to Anisimova for putting together stronger numbers on the clay courts and grass courts in 2025 compared with the hard courts, which suggests this is a player that is a threat at all four Grand Slams played.
The Fourth Round loss in Indian Wells will have been something of a disappointment, but Amanda Anisimova has been a Quarter Finalist at the Australian Open and Semi Finalist in Dubai and over the last twelve months she has been dominant when facing players outside the top 50 of the World Rankings on this surface.
The numbers have backed up the strong scoreboard wins and the American should have too much for veteran Ajla Tomljanovic- the latter has won the two Tour meetings, but one was back in 2017 and the other in 2021 and it was Tomljanovic who was Ranked higher on both occasions.
It is much different now and the Amanda Anisimova aggressive ball-striking should give her the edge in this match, while covering this big line is also well within her scope.
Belinda Bencic - 4.5 games v Zeynep Sonmez: Coming through the Qualifiers and reaching the Australian Open Third Round has raised the Zeynep Sonmez profile, although that has perhaps meant expectations have also not been easy to meet. The 23 year old received a lot of support through the Middle East swing soon after her run at Melbourne, but three opening defeats has just reminded people that Sonmez still has some developing to get through if she wants to move up the World Rankings.
At the moment Zeynep Sonmez is the World Number 83 and her career best mark was set in October at Number 69.
She reached the Quarter Final in Merida since the Middle East swing ended without any victories and Zeynep Sonmez has won First Round matches at both Indian Wells and here in Miami. However, the run ended in Indian Wells in the Second Round and it is going to take some effort for Sonmez to beat the World Number 12 in the Second Round at this tournament.
Belinda Bencic dropped more Ranking Points when losing in the Fourth Round at Indian Wells last week, but she has nothing to defend here in Miami and the Swiss star is going to want to push back into the top ten ahead of the clay court season. Number 4 is still the career high for Belinda Bencic, but she has returned to the Tour after becoming a mother and there remain real ambitions to win a Major title.
After winning all five matches at the United Cup in early January, it has been more of a struggle for Belinda Bencic who has won four of seven matches played since that opening tournament. She was in good shape in Indian Wells before losing to Jessica Pegula in a competitive match and that will bode well for Belinda Bencic who will be looking to put a confidence boosting run on the board ahead of the build up towards the French Open.
She has particularly thrived when facing those opponents she would be expected to beat, namely those who are Ranked lower than her when entering the court- over the last twelve months, Belinda Bencic is 19-3 in those matches and her numbers have backed that up with noticeable improvements on the serve and return.
Underestimating Zoynep Sonmez would be a mistake considering the Turkish player has a 3-4 record over the last twelve months on the hard courts when facing top 50 Ranked opponents. The underdog has won both matches against top 20 Ranked opponents in that time and with nothing to lose, Sonmez can become dangerous.
It should be noted that Zoynep Sonmez has come out of those two matches by just edging the very fine margins and that is hard to sustain.
A confident Belinda Bencic can be very tough to stop on the hard courts and it may be that the higher Ranked player can win a few more easy points behind the first serve that allows her to control this match. This will also mean Bencic can take a real swing on the return of serve and ultimately it may end up with the more experienced player coming through with a solid win on the scoreboard.
Clara Tauson - 3.5 games v Katie Boulter: Eighteen months ago, Katie Boulter was moving into her career best World Ranking mark of Number 23 and looking very capable of breaking into the top 20.
Injury and a loss of form prevented that happening and Boulter has struggled to get herself going again with her current World Ranking down at Number 67. A First Round win will help, but Katie Boulter has work to do if she is going to be in a position to be Seeded when Wimbledon comes around later this year.
She did not play badly on the clay courts last season so an opportunity will come up if Boulter can build up some confidence and momentum by earning an upset in the Second Round in Miami. These big WTA 1000 events makes it very difficult for any player to put together strong runs considering the quality of competition very early in the tournaments, but that is especially the case for those that begin in the First Round like the British player had to do.
Familiarising herself with the conditions has to be a positive, but a Second Round match against Clara Tauson is a tough prospect.
The 23 old is the World Number 16 and her hard court numbers have been pretty good this season, even if the results have not always backed that up. Consistency is a good thing for players like Clara Tauson who has a powerful serve on this surface, although there is room for improvement when it comes to the return.
Those improved numbers have been there over the last twelve months when Clara Tauson has faced opponents Ranked outside the top 50 and she came through a Second Round match in Indian Wells against such an opponent. However, the Dane will have been really disappointed to have lost a tight match against the World Number 92 in Talia Gibson and that is the kind of result that Katie Boulter must use as a form of encouragement about her own chances.
A career long problem for Katie Boulter has been facing the better players on the Tour on this surface- she has won just 32% of matches against top 50 Ranked opponents and that drops to 15% when only considering top 20 opponents.
Katie Boulter is 1-5 against top 20 Ranked opponents over the last twelve months in hard court matches and she would be 3-3 when it comes to covering this handicap mark. That is 2-3 when only considering the matches she has lost and the feeling is that Clara Tauson has a bit too much power behind her strokes, which will give her the edge in this contest.
The sole previous meeting ended in a routine win for Clara Tauson back in 2022, but that is largely irrelevant now- despite that, the higher Ranked player should still have a bit too much for Boulter and she can cover this handicap mark in this Second Round match in Miami.
Marton Fucsovics - 2.5 games v Christopher O'Connell: Another Qualifier looking to use some of the momentum and familiarity of the conditions in his favour is Christoper O'Connell, but he has once again been drawn to face Marton Fucsovics.
That did not go so well in Indian Wells as the Australian was beaten pretty handily, but some believe the courts in Miami will play a little faster and that should help.
However, it is the second one-sided loss suffered against the veteran over the last twelve months, albeit the first on a hard court, and Christoper O'Connell has been struggling for consistency to open 2026. That is underlined by his drop into World Number 130 and there has been some pressure on the O'Connell serve, which is not operating at the kind of standards he has set previously.
He struggled against Marton Fucsovics in Indian Wells and the latter ended up reaching the Third Round at that event in what has been a pretty inconsistent start to the season for him too.
Marton Fucsovics is 34 years old now, but he still has a decent game on the courts.
On the main Tour, Marton Fucsovics is 7-2 on the hard courts when facing those Ranked below him and that is over a twelve month sample.
Not only has he held 88% of his service games in that time, but Fucsovics has created constant pressure on the return with 32% of return games ending in a Break and that was shown in the Indian Wells win over this opponent.
If Christoper O'Connell serves well, this is a dangerous spread, but Marton Fucsovics has all of the tools he needs to overcome the mark and move into a Second Round match against the Number 7 Seed in the draw.
MY PICKS: Amanda Anisimova - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 William Hill (1 Unit)
Belinda Bencic - 4.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (1 Unit)
Clara Tauson - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (1 Unit)
Marton Fucsovics - 2.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet Fred (1 Unit)
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