Manic Monday to determine Women’s quarterfinals, Men’s 4th Round

Schedule features Tsitsipas’ debut, Tiafoe and Sabalenka highlight evening session

by Daniel Perisse

Miami Gardens, FL (March 26, 2023) – No. 2 seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Aryna Sabalenka will hit the court again this Monday at the Miami Open, on a day that will determine all the Women’s quarterfinal matches and the men’s fourth round fixtures.

After advancing straight to the third round due to a bye and a walkover, Stefanos Tsitsipas opens the Stadium slate at noon against Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin, currently ranked at No. 82. The Greek’s main concern is to play pain-free in Miami.

“My health is the most important thing that I could have in tennis,” he said. “When I’m feeling healthy, everything falls into place nicely. I’m enjoying myself on the court, I’m getting creative I can mix up my game and I feel like nothing can go wrong. This is what my aim is for this tournament, to just play pain-free and see how my arm responds.”

The only player who already has a place in the fourth round is Daniil Medvedev. The No. 4 seed advanced due to the withdrawal of Slovakia’s Alex Molcan, with a right hip injury.

On Grandstand, No. 5 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime meets again with Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina, a semi-finalist here last year. These two players met two weeks ago in the third round at Indian Wells, and the Canadian won 7-5, 6-4.

Other Grandstand matchups feature Piedmont, Calif. native Mackenzie McDonald, currently at No. 55 of the ATP Ranking, who will face another unseeded player: France’s Quentin Halys, World No. 79 and 2021 Miami Open champion Hubert Hurkacz taking on World No. 62 Adrian Mannarino, from France.

Court Butch Buchholz opens its slate at 11 a.m. with Czech Jiri Lehecka, currently ranked as World No. 40, against Karen Khachanov, No. 14 seed. The last match will be the unseeded clash between Atlanta native Christopher Eubanks is currently the World’s No. 119, against World No. 65 Gregoire Barrere from France.

Opening the night session at the Stadium, not before 7 p.m., Orlando, Fla. resident Frances Tiafoe, the No. 12 seed, takes on Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, World No. 59. The overall head-to-head is tied 1-1, with each player splitting a victory last year on a hard-court tournament.

As for the women’s side, all the fourth-round matches will be played tomorrow to define the quarterfinals. Not before 1 p.m. at the Stadium, Buffalo, N.Y. native Jessica Pegula, seeded as No. 3 in the draw, takes on No. 20 seed Magda Linette from Poland.

This will be the first match between Pegula and Linette, who reached the semifinal in the last Australian Open. The Polish trains a lot in Boca Raton, where Pegula lives, and they’re used to practicing together:

“We’re pretty good friends. She is playing well this year. She had some good wins this year. So, it’s going to be tough. We know each other’s games very, very well. We practiced the other day as well,” commented World No. 3.

Not before 8:30 p.m., Aryna Sabalenka returns to the night session to play Barbora Krejcikova for the third consecutive time in WTA 1000 tournaments.

Sabalenka, currently ranked as World No. 2, had her first loss of the season against the Czech in February, in the Dubai quarterfinals, but got her revenge at Indian Wells as she halted the rival in the fourth round.

On court Butch Buchholz, No. 27 Anastasia Potapova challenges Qinwen Zheng, the No. 23 seed from China. Zheng leads 2-0 in the head-to-head against Potapova – their latest fixture was this year in the second qualifying round at the Adelaide 2 tournament, and the Chinese won 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(4).

On Grandstand, Jelena Ostapenko, the No. 24 seed, has a matchup against Italy’s Martina Trevisan, seeded at No. 25. This will be the first time they face each other – same with Czech Petra Kvitova, the No. 15 seed, and qualifier Varvara Gracheva, who play on Butch Buchholz.

Also on Butch Buchholz, Czech Marketa Vondrousova plays Romania’s Sorana Cirstea. This will be the third clash between the 2019 Roland Garros runner-up and the Romanian. They have split victories in the past, and the last time they met Cirstea, and prevailed in a third-round match in St. Petersburg the previous year.

Also on Stadium, No. 10 seed and 2023 Indian Wells champion Elena Rybakina faces Belgium’s Elise Mertens will be up next for Rybakina. The Kazakh leads the head-to-head 2-1 and won their most recent match, in 2021 in Cincinnati, 6-3, 6-2.

Unseeded Bianca Andreescu, the 2021 Miami Open finalist, challenges No. 18 seed, Ekaterina Alexandrova, in the first matchup between them, not before 7 p.m. on Grandstand.

You can follow all the results and the men’s and women’s singles and doubles draws here.

Download the order of play for tomorrow and get your tickets here.