Coco Gauff continued to walk the tightrope in her third consecutive match of the tournament but once again she managed to problem-solve her way into her first Miami Open quarterfinal in seven attempts. Gauff, the fourth seed from nearby Delray Beach, is now three steps away from crossing off one of the items on her “bucket’’ list, to win her hometown tournament and fourth WTA 1000 event after downing Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, 6-4 3-6, 6-2 on an idyllic Monday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.

*THE PLAYERS BOX: The popular podcast hosted by Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, Jen Brady and Desirae Krawczy recently had Chinese star Qinwen Zheng on as a guest. Zheng  has become more comfortable with English. “I reject three times, and then they are so passionate to me, and they say, ‘Come on, come on. And at the end, I say, Ok.’  I really enjoyed the stay with them,’’ she said.  “I need to find a balance. If I’m on the court competing with them, I need to treat them like the opponent, but outside of the court, they are nice. I just wish things are going well for them, but on court, we are just opponents. I'm still young, so for me, it's tough to find this balance. So, I'm trying to work on myself.”

Frances Tiafoe wasn’t focused on becoming the first man to oust a Miami Open defending champion before the semifinals since 2018. Rather, he was fired up to avenge Jakub Mensik’s thrashing that he absorbed in the decisive match of the 2025 second-round qualifier of Davis Cup that secured Czechia’s 3-2 victory in Delray Beach, about 10 miles from Tiafoe’s home base in Boca Raton. It might have been the most exciting decisive tiebreak in recent Miami Open history. Tiafoe finally got vengeance on his seventh match point after fighting off two of Mensik’s, in his 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (11) victory on a packed Grandstand where the roars of the fans could be heard across the Hard Rock complex.

Some fans want to stay in their seats for every serve while others enjoy exploring the festival-type environment on campus between matches. No matter your level of tennis acumen, the Miami Open has something for you to enjoy.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King famously said that: “Pressure is a privilege.” But is pressure on the shoulders of the lower-ranked player going up against the number one player in the world or vice-versa? Well, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the prestigious Miami Open, thousands of boisterous fans had the privilege of watching oft-injured American Sebastian Korda stun world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.  That third-round outcome sent shock waves through a wide-open top-half of the draw.

Hailey Baptiste may not be brought up in conversations of up-and-coming American young stars, but don’t tell that to this 24-year-old powerhouse. Baptiste had the fans fired up on Grandstand court on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon at the Miami Open where she finished off ninth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-3, 7-5, with a spectacular combination of cannon-like ground strokes and net putaways.

When players enter a tournament that they won the previous year, outside influences often place pressure on them to defend their title. Just ask Daniil Medvedev, the ninth seed in this tournament, who had won 22 different titles – including Miami in 2023 – before winning Dubai for the second time last month. Of course, he didn’t do it over consecutive years.

Learner Tien, the top-ranked young American among his Next Gen peers, was coming off a career-best quarterfinal run in a Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells last week as well as a quarterfinal berth in the Australian Open. Unfortunately the No. 21-ranked Tien didn’t bring that top form to Miami, where he took a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 defeat to 30-year-old Pole Kamil Majchrzak on a packed Grandstand court Saturday.

Iva Jovic is fortunate enough to be part of two very successful cliques on the WTA circuit. First and foremost, she is an 18-year-old American on the rise, and in hopes of joining the illustrious trio of USA players currently residing in the Top 10: No. 4 Coco Gauff, No. 5 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Amanda Anisimova, and past top tenner Madison Keys.

Carlos Alcaraz attended the Miami Heat-LA Lakers game Thursday night in Miami the night before arguably the most highly anticipated tennis match of the year:  the first meeting between the world No. 1 Spaniard and the Brazilian teen prodigy Joao Fonseca. Nerves? Nah.  From his courtside seat Alcaraz witnessed Lakers superstar Luka Doncic pour in 60 points to lead Los Angeles to victory.