As the action unfolds at the Hard Rock, the Miami Open presented by Itaú has already gotten off to an exciting start. There are some surprises in the draw that should garner plenty of attention from tennis fans across the globe. And we're poised to see some amazing match-ups earlier in the ATP 1000 tournament.

Today marks the kick-off of women’s main draw matches. A trio of Grand Slam tournament champions and former World No. 1s will headline the day, with seven-time Major champion Venus Williams in action against Diana Shnaider, two-time Major winner Simona Halep facing Paula Badosa and former Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki taking on Clara Burel. 

Photo credit Getty Images via  Miami Open presented by Itaú.

Prior to the end of qualifying, Emma Raducanu withdrew citing a lower back injury. She said, “I have been experiencing lower back pain and at this stage of my return to competition I don’t want to risk anything happening. I really tried my best to be ready and I’m sad to be pulling out of Miami as it’s a cool tournament but wish the event all the best.”

Meanwhile, the men's draw was revealed yesterday. And it turns out that the last three Miami Open champions are among the top eight seeds in the men’s draw that was made Monday afternoon.

Defending champion, Daniil Medvedev, is seeded third, and fell into the bottom half of the draw while 2022 winner Carlos Alcaraz is the top seed, fresh off winning the title in Indian Wells, and could face 2021 champion Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals. The fourth former Miami Open winner in the field is two-time champion Andy Murray, who will face former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini in the opening round.

Our top highlight from yesterday: two Florida-based players faced off in the men's qualifiers in an epic match — Brandon Nakashima defeated Michael Mmoh 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. Nakashima trains at Emilio Sanchez Academy in Naples and Mmoh is based out of Bradenton. As always, the "qualies" just might be the best kept secret at pro tournaments.

That said, get yourself down to the Hard Rock today to check out the action. Here's what's happening at the Miami Open on Tuesday, March 19th...

Order of Play (Tues. 3/19)

GRANDSTAND starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] Peyton Stearns (USA) vs Yafan Wang (China) 
[WTA] Diana Shnaider vs [WC] Venus Williams (USA) 
[WTA] Clara Burel (France) vs [WC] Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 
[WTA] NB 4:00 PM [WC] Simona Halep (Romania) vs Paula Badosa (Spain) 

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] Xinyu Wang (China) vs [WC] Hailey Baptiste (USA) 
[WTA] Caroline Dolehide (USA) vs [Q] Clara Tauson (Denmark) 
[WTA] Lucia Bronzetti (Italy) vs [Q] Taylor Townsend (USA) 
[WTA] Cristina Bucsa (Spain) vs Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) 

COURT 1 starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] Daria Saville (Australia) vs Shuai Zhang (China) 
[WTA] Ana Bogdan (Romania) vs Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) 
[WTA] [Q] Maria Lourdes Carle (Argentina) vs [WC] Brenda Fruhvirtova (Czech Republic) 
[WTA] Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) vs Magda Linette (Poland) 

COURT 7 starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] Anna Blinkova vs Yue Yuan (China) 
[WTA] [Q] Laura Siegemund (Germany) vs [Q] Aleksandra Krunic (Serbia) 
[WTA] Xiyu Wang (China) vs [Q] Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 
[WTA] Jaqueline Cristian (Romania) vs Diane Parry (France) 

COURT 5 starts at 11:00 AM
[ATP] [11] JJ Wolf (USA) vs [21] Vit Kopriva (Czech Republic) 
[ATP] Harold Mayot (France) vs [19] David Goffin (Belgium) 
[ATP] [5] Arthur Rinderknech (France) vs [22] Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) 

COURT 2 starts at 11:00 AM
[ATP] [1] Thiago Seyboth Wild (Brazil) vs Hugo Grenier (France) 
[ATP] [9] Aleksander Kovacevic (USA) vs [24] Zizou Bergs (Belgium) 
[ATP] [4] Jakub Mensik (Czech Republic) vs Lukas Klein (Slovakia) 

COURT 3 starts at 11:00 AM
[ATP] [8] Pedro Martinez (Spain) vs Adam Walton (Australia) 
[ATP] NB 12:30 PM [2] Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) vs Emilio Nava (USA) 
[ATP] Otto Virtanen (Finland) vs [13] Roberto Baustista Agut (Spain)

COURT 6 starts at 11:00 AM
[ATP] [WC] Coleman Wong (Hong Kong) vs [16] Sumit Nagal (India) 
[ATP] Valentin Vacherot (Monaco) vs Andrea Vavassori (Italy) 
[ATP] [10] Brandon Nakashima (USA) vs Terence Atmane (France) 

===

Written by Florida Tennis' Editor and Publisher Matt Pressman. Source:  Miami Open presented by Itaú. Photo credit (top photo): Miami Open presented by Itaú.