Saturday features the completion of the second round in men’s singles, and the start of the third round in women’s singles.
Last week at Indian Wells, Jack Draper claimed the biggest title of his career. Can he immediately follow-up on that career-changing achievement? We may quickly find out, as she faces a tough opening round draw in 19-year-old Jakub Mensik.
Saturday also sees many of the top seeds take the court, including Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Alexander Zverev, and Taylor Fritz. Plus, Naomi Osaka looks to advance at her winningest WTA 1000 event. And in a contest between two multi-time Major finalists, Jasmine Paolini takes on Ons Jabeur.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Saturday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Ons Jabeur (31) vs. Jasmine Paolini (6) – 11:00am on Grandstand
Paolini’s spectacular and unexpected rise during 2024 is well-documented, and it’s only natural she would struggle to repeat such strong results during 2025. She’s a modest 9-5 this year, and is yet to win more than two matches at any event. And Jasmine’s opening round victory on Thursday was only her second-ever win in Miami. A year ago, she lost in this same round to Emma Navarro.
Jabeur played just 32 matches during 2024, as injury derailed her career after reaching Major finals during both 2022 and 2023. She is now 12-7 in 2025, though she arrived in Miami on a three-match losing streak. Ons reached the fourth round here back in both 2021 and 2022, but is just 6-5 lifetime at this event.
Their head-to-head stands at 2-1 in Jabeur’s favor, but this is the their first-ever hard court meeting. On Saturday, Paolini should be able to dictate rather well with her forehand on these fast-playing courts, and the Italian has certainly been the more in-form player across the past 12 months. I favor Jasmine to even their head-to-head and advance to the round of 16.
Jakub Mensik vs. Jack Draper (6) – Third on Grandstand
With his Indian Wells title, Draper sits at No.3 in the year-to-date rankings, and is just 25 points behind Zverev for No.2. Jack is 13-2 this season, and has now reached the final of his last two tournaments. While the British No.1 is just 2-3 in Miami, he’s an entirely different player than he was a year ago.
Mensik is another fast-rising ATP talent, who won 41 matches last year at all levels, and recently debuted inside the top 50, just over a year after being ranked outside the top 150. And Jakub has already achieved some success at the Masters 1000 level, with a quarterfinal appearance this past October in Shanghai, where he earned a pair of top 10 victories. The teenager possesses a powerful game, which helped him defeat Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets on Thursday.
This will be their first of likely many tour-level encounters, though two years ago at a Challenger event on a hard court, Draper defeated Mensik 6-4, 6-2. Against such an imposing opponent, Jack cannot afford a letdown coming off his first Masters title less than a week ago. But as long as he’s relatively fresh both physically and emotionally, Draper remains the favorite on Saturday.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Alexander Zverev (1) vs. Jacob Fearnley (Q) – Since Jannik Sinner’s three-month suspension was announced, opening the door for Zverev to become World No.1 for the first time, Sascha is just 4-4, and lost his opening round at Indian Wells to Tallon Griekspoor. Fearnley is a 23-year-old British qualifier who went 43-9 last season at all levels. Two months ago at the Australian Open, Zverev defeated Fearnley in straight sets.
Taylor Fritz (3) vs. Lorenzo Sonego – Fritz is just 9-8 at this event, one of the biggest in his home country. But he is 5-2 against Sonego, and 3-0 on hard courts.
Hailey Baptiste (WC) vs. Naomi Osaka – Osaka is now 16-7 in Miami, and took out 24th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets on Thursday. Baptiste is a 23-year-old American who upset 12th-seeded Daria Kasatkina in the last round. Just a few months ago in Auckland, Naomi overcame Hailey 6-2 in the third.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q) – Sabalenka dropped only three games in her opening round, bringing her 2025 record to 18-4. Ruse has already won four matches this week, to achieve her best-ever result at a WTA 1000 event.
Coco Gauff (3) vs. Maria Sakkari (28) – Gauff thumped Sofia Kenin on Thursday by the score of 6-0, 6-0. And two weeks ago at Indian Wells, she beat Sakkari in straight sets, though Maria actually leads their head-to-head 5-4.
Joao Fonseca vs. Ugo Humbert (19) – Fonseca attracted a huge, boisterous crowd of Brazilian fans on Thursday evening, who helped him defeat Learner Tien in three sets. Just last month in Davis Cup, Ugo defeated Joao in straights.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
