Drawings, prize money, and everything you need to know

The Hologic WTA Tour moves next week from the west coast of California to the east coast of Florida for the Miami Open hosted by Itaú, the third WTA 1000 event of the season. This year the event features eight of the top 10 as well as a tournament debut for US Open champion Emma Raducanu and a welcome home for Naomi Osaka.

Here’s what you need to know about how the Sunshine Double ended in Miami:

When does the tournament start?

The Miami Open presented by Itaú is a WTA 1000 event at Hard Rock Stadium. The tournament features 96-player singles and 32-team doubles. It will be played on outdoor hard courts and will use the Dunlop Grand Prix Regular Duty Balls. Coming off of the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells, Miami makes the second leg of the “Sunshine Double”.

Qualifying starts on Monday 21st March, with main draw play starting on Tuesday 22nd March Day sessions start at 11am on all courts except Stage 1, which starts at noon. Night sessions begin at 7:00 p.m.

The entire round of 16 will be played on Monday, March 28, with quarter-finals split on Tuesday and Wednesday. The semifinals will be played on Thursday, March 31st.

When are the finals?

The single final will be played on Saturday, 2 April at 13:00

The final of the doubles will take place on Sunday, April 3rd, after the men’s singles final, not before 3pm

Who are the top 16 seeds?

1. Aryna Sabalenka (No. 3)
2. Iga Swiatek (No.4)
3. Anett Kontaveit (No.5)
Maria Sakkari (No.6)
5. Paula Badosa (No.7)
Karolina Pliskova (No.8)
7. Garbiñe Muguruza (No.9)
8. Ons Jabeur (No.10)
9. Danielle Collins (No.11)
10. Jelena Ostapenko (No.12)
11. Emma Raducanu (No. 13)
Victoria Azarenka (No.15)
13. Angelique Kerber (No.16)
14. Coco Gauff (No.17)
15. Elina Svitolina (No.18)
16. Jessica Pegula (No.19)

The only top 20 players not missing from the draw are No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova, and No. 14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Wildcards were awarded to Sofia Kenin, Astra Sharma, Hailey Baptiste, Linda Fruhvirtova, Alexandra Eala, Ashlyn Krueger and Robin Montgomery.

Who are the defending champions?

World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty will not be in Miami to defend her Miami title. Barty is the two-time defending champion after winning the title in 2019 and 2021. Last year, the Australian defeated Bianca Andreescu in the final, 6-3, 4-0 (Ret.).

In doubles, Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara took home the title, beating Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani 6-2, 7-5. This year, Shibahara will play Miami with Asia Muhammad, while Aoyama will pair with Chan Hao-Ching.

What does the drawing look like?

The raffle ceremony in Miami will take place on Sunday evening.

What are the prize money and ranking points offered?

The total player compensation offered in Miami this year is $ 8,584,055.

First round: 1 point
Second round: 60 points
Third round: 105 points
Quarterfinals: 190 points
Semi-finals: 350 points
Final: 585 points
Champion: 900 points

Key storylines

Sakkari, Swiatek, Badosa, Halep Reiden Momentum: The four Indian Wells semifinals played at a fantastic level to put their stamps on Indian Wells, with Sakkari and Swiatek playing for the No. 2 ranking in Sunday’s final. Of the four, only Halep and Sakkari reached the semifinals in Miami. Halep did so in 2015 and 2019, while Sakkari made her debut last year, losing in a restful three-set duel with Andreescu.

Kontaveit, Muguruza, Jabeur are back: After a victory came in February to go unbeaten, no. Jabeur came to Indian Wells and looked strong after back-to-back quarterfinals in the Middle East, but lost in their opening round against Daria Saville. Muguruza won the first nine games against Alison Riske in their opening match before winning just one more match in a row. All three could benefit from a reset in Miami.

Collins returns to action: The Australian Open finalist has not played a single match since Melbourne after being forced to withdraw in their only match, a 6-2, 0-3 draw at Marketa Vondrousova in the first round of Dubai due to fraud. She later withdrew from Doha to Indian Wells, but remained on the entry list for Miami. The American enjoyed her breakout success in Miami in 2018 as she put together an inspired run to the semifinals as a qualifier.

Raducanu makes its Miami debut: The US Open champion narrowly lost to Petra Martic in the third round of Indian Wells, but there were many positive effects from her tournament debut. She will have a little more than a week to recover from the minor setback she faced against Martic.

Gauff and Osaka come home: The first time Gauff played her home tournament, she was in 45th place. The second time? No. 36. Twelve months later, Gauff is the 16th seed in Miami, where she’s still looking to get to the second round. Former No. 1 Osaka returns to his home tournament for the first time since 2019.