she dispatched Egyptian Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-1. The current rival of the WTA ranking will be the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (30th seeded).
The top seeded players advance by skipping the first round, including world number one Ash Barty, who will be able to use overtime to deal with jetlag. He arrived in Miami after a 45-hour drive from his native Australia.
Brisbane to Sydney, Sydney to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Miami is usually an easy trip, Barty acknowledged. They canceled one flight out of Australia and another when we arrived in Los Angeles. It was a bit bumpy.
Those not in the tournament are Serena Williams, and the three tennis players who have dominated in men in recent years. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic chose not to travel from Serbia and the other two cited physical problems.
This opens up space for players in their twenties who have long sought to prevail in the big tournaments.
I can’t lie, it’s an opportunity, acknowledged Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Greek who ranks fifth in the ATP rankings and lost to Alexander Zverev in the final of the Mexican Open last weekend in Acapulco. There are several good players who are not in the top five and who play well. I also see them as a threat.
– .
