The women’s singles final will be played on Saturday, as will the final in men’s doubles.
Saturday’s women’s singles final features two of the WTA’s biggest and best ball strikers, as 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina takes on 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.
Plus, the men’s doubles championship match sees the top two seeds collide, as it will be Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden (1) vs. Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek (2) at 12:30pm local time. Surprisingly, this is the first time these two teams have played in over a year, when Dodig and Krajiceck defeated Bopanna and Ebden in the final of Rotterdam last February. Bopanna and Ebden won the Australian Open to open this season, while it’s a second final of the year for Dodig and Krajiceck, who were the runners-up a month ago in Dubai.
Danielle Collins vs. Elena Rybakina (4) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court
Rybakina has endured a complicated path to this final, already her fourth of the season. Four of her five matches have gone to three sets, including the last two against in-form opposition (Sakkari, Azarenka). Elena is playing for her third title of the year, as well as the third WTA 1000 title of her career, after claiming two during 2023 (Indian Wells, Rome). She is a modest 7-10 lifetime in WTA finals.
By contrast, Collins has steamrolled the competition on her way to this final, her first at WTA 1000 level. Since dropping her opening set of the fortnight, she has taken her last 12, losing only 24 games in the process. And she hasn’t been pushed beyond 6-3 in any of those 12 sets. This is only the fourth final of Danielle’s career, and her first since the Australian Open over two years ago, when she lost to Ash Barty. Her other two previous finals came within a three-week span during the summer of 2021, and were on different surfaces. And she won both.
The second of those titles came in San Jose, where Collins beat Rybakina in the quarterfinals after two tiebreak sets. That was their first meeting, and remains Danielle’s only victory. They’ve played three more times, all since the beginning of 2023, with Elena winning all three in three sets. Most recently, they met just a month ago in Abu Dhabi, where Rybakina came from a set down to prevail 6-3 in the third.
Elena is now 22-3 on the year, an identical record to that of Iga Swiatek, with whom she’s tied for the lead in WTA match wins this season. But Collins is now a strong 19-7, and when she is playing as dominant as she has these past two weeks, she’s capable of beating anyone.
Maintaining a high percentage of first serves will be key in this matchup, as both love to attack the second, especially Collins with her penetrating backhand. Rybakina has appeared quite vulnerable during this tournament, while the American has played freely and confidently in her last appearance at her home state’s biggest event, as Danielle has announced this will be her last year on tour.
While the statistics seem to favor Rybakina, I’m going with Collins to win the biggest title of her career on Saturday afternoon in Miami.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
