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The first-round matches of the WTA Miami Open are underway as we speak. And this means that the unseeded players I shall be mentioning here are already in action at this event. However, the seeds will not kick off until Wednesday/Thursday, depending on their respective position in the draw. But that’s not my focus here. After all, the top seeds are naturally some of the favourites to win the tournament – everybody knows that!
So rather than talk about the Miami Open favourites for the women’s singles, I figured I’d discuss some players who aren’t necessarily taking the headlines at the moment. This way, you can watch some exciting players who have some real potential to make a deep run in the tournament this year. And even if they do fall in the early stages, which I don’t think they will, you can then keep them on your radar for future events.
On that note, I’ve got three players in mind who I could categorize as ‘underdogs’ at the 2023 Miami Open. And each of these players could produce some huge wins during the tournament. Therefore, allow me to highlight these WTA players for you right now.
2023 Miami Open Underdogs in the Women’s Singles
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For the Miami Open this year, there are 32 seeded players – all with byes to the second round by default. But since these three underdogs aren’t seeded, they will be in action from day one. So if you’d like to catch the following three players in action, make sure you tune in to the early rounds.
Anyway – I promised you a rundown of three underdogs who could defy the bookmakers and score some big wins in Miami, so here they are:
Sorana Cirstea
Cirstea is a player you may not have stumbled across before. She keeps her head down and goes about her business in a quiet manner, but she can do serious damage on the court when she puts her mind to it. Just look at her results at Indian Wells last week. Cirstea went all the way to the quarter-final after starting in the first round. And along the way, she racked up big wins against players such as Caroline Garcia. So she obviously has what it takes to take down the big guns!
Emma Raducanu
Of course, Emma Raducanu doesn’t really need an introduction these days. As a former US Open champion, she has proved that she can win big trophies, even if she isn’t down as one of the favourites. And while yes, she hasn’t quite torn up the WTA Tour following her maiden slam win, she’s starting to find her form once again. This was on display at Indian Wells when she beat both the 20th and 13th seeds back to back before losing to Swiatek.
Varvara Gracheva
Gracheva was one of the biggest surprises of the entire Indian Wells tournament last week. This player came through qualifying to make the 4th round – an impressive achievement in itself. She beat both the 25th and 8th seeds before losing to the tournament winner, Rybakina. And she has qualified once again for the Miami Open. If she wins her opener, however, she will face the 4th seed, Ons Jabeur in the second round.
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