For those seniors out there who remember ‘The Perils of Pauline,’ the heroine repeatedly escapes fatal situations at the last minute. Tennis isn’t fatal, but Coco Gauff once again needed to extricate herself out of danger against a formidable opponent in No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. The speedy 22-year-old from Delray Beach used her unmatched athleticism, running side-to-side to chase down Bencic’s pinpoint groundstrokes. Gauff then turned defense into offense as only she could

When American Sebastian Korda shocked the tennis world by taking out No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Miami Open last week, players on that side of the 96-player draw breathed a collective sigh of relief, and figured, ‘Hey, why not me?’ Among the top eight seeds on Alcaraz’s top half of the draw, only sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz, a semifinalist here last year, survived the first week. Tommy Paul, the 22nd seed and Fritz’s Davis Cup teammate, also resided there.

Why Landaluce? He’s the fifth qualifier ever to reach the Miami quarterfinals and lowest ranked to do so since No. 185 Jim Grabb in 1994. He has been practicing with his mentor and idol Rafael Nadal at Nadal’s academy since he was 14. The Spaniard was the world No.1 ranked junior and won the US Open boys title in 2022. Why Lehecka? This is his third Masters 1000 quarterfinal and he is the fifth Czechian man to reach the quarters in Indian Wells (2024) and now Miami in his career. He played a high-level match in beating No. 7 Taylor Fritz, slamming 10 aces, while saving all five breakpoints. He converted all 12 points at net and did not record a double fault.

Why Sabalenka: Arguably the best hard-court player on Tour with 20 of her titles on that surface. She won this tournament last year and hasn’t dropped a set in her three previous matches. Coming off a title at Indian Wells and shooting for the Sunshine Double. Why Baptiste: Late-bloomer features similar power to Sabalenka and loves to aggressively charge the net. She lacks experience in big matches but is playing with confidence and with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

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.