Miami [US], March 3 (ANI): Defending champion Iga Swiatek together with Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka prime the entry checklist for the Miami Open 2023, which begins March 21 on the Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami is the second leg of the “Sunshine Double,” which is able to observe Indian Wells, and the third WTA 1000 occasion of the yr. After defeating former No. 1 Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 within the championship match final yr, Swiatek made historical past by changing into the youngest participant to win each Indian Wells and Miami in the identical season.
Swiatek took over because the World No. 1 after her efficiency in Miami, and he or she hasn’t given it up since. Swiatek heads into her forty seventh consecutive week because the chief of the WTA Tour as she competes within the Dubai Tennis Championships after taking house her maiden championship of the yr on the Qatar Open.
Among the ten Grand Slam champions who earned straight entry have been Swiatek and Sabalenka. Emma Raducanu, who has been named as a major draw wild card, will elevate that to 11.
Two earlier US Open champions have been named as the primary wild playing cards for the competitors, together with Raducanu. Dominic Thiem, the winner for males in 2020, joins the 20-year-old British, who received her maiden main at Flushing Meadows in 2021.
Due to tonsillitis, the previous World No. 10 Raducanu was compelled to withdraw from this week’s competitors in Austin. She is 4 positions past the Miami major draw cutoff at No. 80 now (as of Mar. 2). The first two major draw alternates are Maryna Zanevska and Nuria Parrizas Diaz, and Anna Bondar is the ultimate direct entry.
Here are the Top 20 gamers on the Miami Open entry checklist: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Sofia Kenin (SR), Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Daria Kasatkina, Belinda Bencic, Elena Rybakina, Veronika Kudermetova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Liudmila Samsonova, Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Karolina Pliskova, Paula Badosa and Jelena Ostapenko. (ANI)