Jakub Mensik, Miami champion, was going to pull out of the tournament an hour before his first match

Jessica Pegula and Sloane Stephens have met just once before, while Andrey Rublev hasn't faced Nick Kyrgios since beating him at the 2019 US Open. Plus, Coco Gauff plays Wang Qiang for a fourth time in 10 months.

BySteve Tignor

Published Mar 24, 2022

MATCH POINT: N. Kyrgios def. A. Mannarino; Miami 1R

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MATCH POINT: Kyrgios opens event with Mannarino win

Coco Gauff vs. Qiang Wang

Gauff and Wang have grown well-acquainted with each other’s games over the last 10 months. This will be the fourth time they’ve played since last May. Gauff won their first two matches, in relatively routine fashion, on clay in Parma and Paris. By January of this year, though, Wang had started to get the hang of the teenager’s game, beating her in the first round at the Australian Open in straight sets. That’s not a loss that Gauff, who has had a very up and down year so far, is going to want to repeat in front of her home-state fans. Winner: Gauff

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Jessica Pegula vs. Sloane Stephens

Pegula and Stephens are 28 and 29, respectively, and have been on tour together for more than a decade, but the two Americans have faced each other just once—last fall in Indian Wells. Pegula won that meeting, and considering she’s ranked 17 spots ahead of Stephens (No. 21 to No. 38), she’ll be favored again. But after a run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, Pegula’s results have been flat, and she’s coming off a 6-0 third-set loss to Marie Bouzkova at Indian Wells. Stephens, meanwhile, suddenly came to life last month when she won the title in Guadalajara. This one should be competitive. Winner: Stephens

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Stephens, who defeated Panna Udvardy in the first round, won this event four years ago in its final year with Crandon Park as the host venue.

Andrey Rublev vs. Nick Kyrgios

How long will Kyrgios’s latest return to form last? Into a second week? He was impressive in beating one Top Tenner, Casper Ruud, and nearly beating another, Rafael Nadal, in Indian Wells. And he has it in him to beat Rublev as well. The Australian and the Russian have split their two previous meetings: Kyrgios won in Moscow in 2018, Rublev won in a close three-setter at the US Open in 2019. There are a couple of moving parts here. If Kyrgios falls behind, or loses a tight first set, how will he react? Rublev, meanwhile, has a played a lot of tennis recently; will he be OK with getting a flight back to Europe, and getting ready for the clay season? Winner: Rublev

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