There was plenty of drama yesterday at the Miami Open. On the women's side, qualifier Taylor Townsend caused one of the upsets of the day as she continued her impressive run, having qualified at back-to-back WTA 1000 events. Townsend beat No. 25 seed Elise Mertens by a convincing 6-2 6-2.

Straight sets wins were also recorded by No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko while No. 7 and No. 24 seeds Qinwen Zheng and Katie Boulter, went through after their opponents were both forced to retire. 

I caught up with Viktoria Belinsky from Tennis Proway who was part of Ostapenko's coaching team last year at the Miami Open. Before the match, Belinsky predicted a convincing win. Sure enough, Ostapenko got the job done with a 7-6, 6-4 win in straight sets.

Above: Florida Tennis Editor and Publisher Matt Pressman with Tennis Proway's Viktoria Belinky. Photo: Florida Tennis.

There was some double trouble on display at the Hard Rock yesterday too. An early upset on the women’s side came in the only all-American doubles match of the day, with Ashlyn Krueger & Sloane Stephens teaming up to defeat defending champions Coco Gauff & Jessica Pegula in three sets.

On the men's side, some highlights included a few thrilling three set matches.  Daniel Evans defeated Lorenzo Sonego 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an exciting match. And Alejandro Tabilo defeated Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Even though he lost, we're encouraged by the growth in Nakashima's game as he continues his comeback.

Another highlight at the Miami Open: watching stars on the practice courts. Carlos Alcaraz had a packed house as he practiced yesterday and fans were enthralled. I ran into a group of kids from the David Ensignia Tennis Academy who were inspired after watching Alcaraz at such close proximity.

Above: Coaches and players from the David Ensignia Tennis Academy visit the Miami Open. Photo: Florida Tennis.

So what's on tap for today? Defending champion Daniil Medvedev opens his 2024 Miami campaign by closing out play on Stadium Court against Marton Fucsovics on the first day of play for the men’s seeds.

Medvedev will not be the only former winner playing today, as two-time Miami Open champion Andy Murray will face Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry. A trio of American seeds will also be in action, with No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No. 13 Tommy Paul and No. 21 Frances Tiafoe all set to play their first matches of the tournament.

Be sure to check out more highlights and quotes from top stars during the Miami Open press conferences, courtesy of Florida Tennis contributor Adam Ross — visit our Florida Tennis Facebook page for more. 

Order of Play (Fri. 3/22)

STADIUM starts at 12:00 PM
[WTA] [3] Coco Gauff (USA) vs [Q] Nadia Podoroska (Argentina) 
[ATP] [Q] Andrea Vavassori (Italy) vs [2] Jannik Sinner (Italy) 
[ATP] [Q] Thiago Seyboth Wild (Brazil) vs [12] Taylor Fritz (USA) 
[WTA] NB 7:00 PM [1] Iga Swiatek (Poland) vs Camila Giorgi (Italy) 
[ATP] NB 8:30 PM Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) vs [3] Daniil Medvedev 

GRANDSTAND starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] Paula Badosa (Spain) vs [2] Aryna Sabalenka 
[ATP] Denis Shapovalov (Canada) vs [10] Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) 
[WTA] NB 2:00 PM Lin Zhu (China) vs [5] Jessica Pegula (USA) 
[WTA] Naomi Osaka (Japan) vs [15] Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 
[ATP] NB 7:00 PM Christopher O'Connell (Australia) vs [21] Frances Tiafoe (USA) 

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ starts at 11:00 AM
[ATP] [5] Andrey Rublev vs Tomas Machac (Czech Republic) 
[ATP] Andy Murray (Great Britain) vs [29] Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Argentina) 
[ATP] [7] Casper Ruud (Norway) vs Luca Van Assche (France) 
[WTA] Sloane Stephens (USA) vs [19] Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 
[WTA] Elina Avanesyan vs [6] Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) 

COURT 1 starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] [Q] Storm Hunter (Australia) vs [20] Emma Navarro (USA) 
[WTA] Donna Vekic (Croatia) vs [14] Ekaterina Alexandrova 
[WTA] [30] Anastasia Potapova vs Danielle Collins (USA) 
[ATP] [13] Tommy Paul (USA) vs [WC] Martin Damm (USA) 
[ATP] [30] Cameron Norrie (Great Britain) vs Flavio Cobolli (Italy) 

COURT 7 starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] [21] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs Shelby Rogers (USA) 
[WTA] [10] Daria Kasatkina vs [Q] Claire Liu (USA) 
[ATP] [25] Tallon Griekspoor (Netherlands) vs Alex Michelsen (USA) 
[ATP] [22] Nicolas Jarry (Chile) vs Jack Draper (Great Britain) 
[ATP] Ariel Behar (Uruguay) / Adam Pavlasek (Czech Republic) vs Max Purcell (Australia) / Jordan Thompson (Australia) 

COURT 5 starts at 11:00 AM
[ATP] [14] Ugo Humbert (France) vs Botic Van De Zandschulp (Netherlands) 
[ATP] Dominik Koepfer (Germany) vs [18] Sebastian Baez (Argentina) 
[ATP] [17] Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) vs Matteo Arnaldi (Italy) 
[ATP] [WC] Juncheng Shang (China) vs [27] Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain) 
[ATP] [5] Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) / Neal Skupski (Great Britain) vs Marcelo Melo (Brazil) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) 

COURT 2 starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] [12] Jasmine Paolini (Italy) vs [Q] Katie Volynets (USA) 
[WTA] [23] Caroline Garcia (France) vs Viktoriya Tomova (Bulgaria) 
[WTA] [Q] Maria Timofeeva vs [26] Linda Noskova (Czech Republic) 
[WTA] Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukraine) / Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) vs Marie Bouzkova (Czech) / Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spain) 
[WTA] [WC] Xinyu Jiang (China) / Yue Yuan (China) vs [WC] Madison Keys (USA) / Peyton Stearns (USA) 
[WTA] Oksana Kalashnikova (Georgia) / Monica Niculescu (Romania) vs [7] Demi Schuurs (Netherlands) / Luisa Stefani (Brazil) 

COURT 3 starts at 11:00 AM
[WTA] Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) vs [29] Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) 
[WTA] [31] Leylah Fernandez (Canada) vs [Q] Emiliana Arango (Colombia) 
[ATP] Chris Eubanks (USA) / Ben Shelton (USA) vs Robin Haase (Netherlands) / Andreas Mies (Germany) 
[ATP] Adrian Mannarino (France) / Fabrice Martin (France) vs Lloyd Glasspool (Great Britain) / Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) 
[WTA] Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) / Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine) vs Caroline Dolehide (USA) / Desirae Krawczyk (USA) 
[WTA] [6] Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) / Taylor Townsend (USA) vs Asia Muhammad (USA) / Alycia Parks (USA) 

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Written by Florida Tennis' Editor and Publisher Matt Pressman. Source: Miami Open presented by Itaú. Photo credit (top photo) of Taylor Townsend: AP via Miami Open presented by Itaú. Other photos: Florida Tennis.