All round of 16 matches in the men’s singles draw are scheduled for Tuesday. Also, the women’s singles quarterfinals will get underway.
In a quarterfinal encounter between two of the top eight seeds, Elena Rybakina plays Maria Sakkari. The other WTA quarterfinal on Tuesday features three-time Miami champion Victoria Azarenka against Yulia Putintseva, who is vying for her first ever WTA 1000 semifinal.
Plus, the top four seeds all still remaining in the men’s singles draw, and they all play on Tuesday.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Tuesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Lorenzo Musetti (23) – Not Before 3:30pm on Stadium Court
Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak, with six of his last seven matches being straightforward straight-setters. He’s dropped only nine games through four sets thus far in Miami, as he’s fully rediscovered his mojo, which he had lost after Wimbledon last summer. Carlitos was the champion here two years ago, and a semifinalist in 2023.
Musetti pulled off some magical shot-making on Monday night to overcome American Ben Shelton after two tight sets. The 22-year-old Italian arrived in Miami with a dismal record of 5-8 on the year, but becoming a first-time father since leaving Indian Wells seems to have reinspired his play. Lorenzo is playing to reach his third quarterfinal at Masters 1000 level.
Alcaraz leads their tour-level head-to-head 2-1, and claimed their only meeting on a hard court, which took place last fall in Beijing. He also defeated Musetti in straight sets earlier last year at Roland Garros, while Lorenzo’s only victory occurred two years ago in the final of Hamburg on clay. As impressive as Musetti was against Shelton, and as dangerous as his one-handed backhand can be, Alcaraz should still be favored on Tuesday afternoon.
Maria Sakkari (8) vs. Elena Rybakina (4) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court
Rybakina is now an excellent 20-13 on the year, after dispatching of Madison Keys in straight sets on Monday afternoon. Since Indian Wells last March, she has advanced to the semifinals or better at six WTA 1000 tournaments, reaching four finals, and winning two titles (Indian Wells, Rome). One of those runner-up results came at this event a year ago.
Sakkari has won seven of eight matches since hiring David Witt as her new coach. She took out three seeded players to make the Indian Wells final two weeks ago (Garcia, Navarro, Gauff), and already defeated two of 2024’s strongest WTA performers this past week (Yuan, Yastremska). Maria received a walkover in the last round from Anna Kalinskaya.
Rybakina is 2-1 against Sakkari, with all three matches contested on this surface. Most recently, they met a few months ago at the WTA Finals in Cancun, where Elena prevailed in a third-set tiebreak. In that match, Elena used her superb serving prowess to save six of seven break points. And based on how well she’s played this season, I favor Rybakina to defeat Sakkari again in this quarterfinal.
Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:
Dominik Koepfer vs. Daniil Medvedev (3) – Medvedev beat Cam Norrie in straight sets on Sunday. Koepfer has now upset two consecutive seeds to this stage (Baez, Humbert). Daniil is 2-0 against Dominik, with both wins coming at US Opens within the last five years.
Victoria Azarenka (27) vs. Yulia Putintseva – Azarenka has earned three nice victories this past week, over Peyton Stearns, Qinwen Zheng, and Katie Boulter. Putintseva has eliminated two seeded players of her own (Samsonova, Kalinina). Vika has taken both their prior encounters, though both went deep into a third set.
Christopher O’Connell vs. Jannik Sinner (2) – Sinner came from a set down on Sunday to defeat Tallon Griekspoor, making him 18-1 this season. O’Connell is yet to drop a set, and the 29-year-old Australian only owned one main draw win at a Masters 1000 event prior to this fortnight. Their only prior meeting took place three years ago in Atlanta, where O’Connell was victorious.
Grigor Dimitrov (11) vs. Hubert Hurkacz (8) – Dimitrov blitzed Jannick Hanfmann on Monday by a score of 6-1, 6-0. On the same day, Hurkacz survived a grueling three-setter against Sebastian Korda. Grigor is an undefeated 4-0 against Hubi, yet all four matches have been tight.
Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Karen Khachanov (15) – Zverev defeated Christopher Eubanks on Monday, while Khachanov required a third-set tiebreak to beat Francisco Cerundolo. Sascha is 3-2 against Karen, and they haven’t played since the gold medal match of the Tokyo Olympics nearly three years ago, which Zverev won 6-3, 6-1.
Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.
