The tennis calendar is all over the shop at the start of 2021 with the various restrictions that are going on due to the Covid-19 pandemic but slightly later than we are used to, the ATP Tour arrives in Miami for the next week or so for the ATP Miami Open, the first Masters 1000 event of the campaign.
This tournament had to be scrapped last year because of the pandemic so it should be Roger Federer who is defending the title but he hasn’t travelled due to injury so we are guaranteed a fresh winner of the event.
Recent Winners
2019 – Roger Federer
2018 – John Isner
2017 – Roger Federer
2016 – Novak Djokovic
2015 – Novak Djokovic
2014 – Novak Djokovic
2013 – Andy Murray
2012 – Novak Djokovic
2011 – Novak Djokovic
2010 – Andy Roddick
The Format
We have a bigger draw for this tournament than we usually would have as the bid to get action going for as many as possible continues. 128 players will be in the field once qualifying has concluded with the 32 seeds straight into the second round. Qualifiers and those ranked outside the top 32 play in the first round to join them there. The draw has been completed already and the tournament is a straight knockout with every match over the best of three sets. There is a tiebreak in the final set should it reach 6-6. The champion is crowned on the second Sunday of the competition.
Top Quarter
Usually we are used to seeing Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer as the top seed in the draw and in the top quarter as a result but none of the three have made it here which means that Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev is the headliner in this part of the draw. There are seven other seeds in this section and they are Reilly Opelka, Dan Evans, Dusan Lajovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, John Isner, Jan-Lennard Struff and Roberto Bautista Agut.
The qualifiers have still to be placed in the draw at the time of writing but there are a few names that standout among the unseeded players who are already in it. Sam Querrey is one of those while Feliciano Lopez is another of them. Frances Tiafoe and Pierre-Hugues Herbert are another two while the incredibly in form Lloyd Harris is also in what looks like a competitive section even allowing for the quality of Medvedev.
Second Quarter
Another in form player heads up the second quarter this week. That is the recently crowned Acapulco champion Alexander Zverev who is looking for a first Masters 1000 title on an American hard court. If he is going to make it through to the semi-final he may need to get the better of David Goffin in the quarter final. Six men will be out to deny them their places in the last eight. Those other seeds are Nikoloz Basilashvili, Jannik Sinner, Karen Khachanov, Grigor Dimitrov, Taylor Fritz and the enigmatic Alexander Bublik.
Once again there are a fair few recognisable names in this part of the draw who will come into the event in the first round courtesy of not being seeded. The first of those is one of the British interests for the week in Cameron Norrie. Others include the home aces Tommy Paul and Steve Johnson. German player Dominik Koepfer went well in Acapulco last week and will attempt to follow up his run in this section.
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Third Quarter
The other Russian star Andrey Rublev heads up what looks like a very competitive third quarter of the draw this year. He will be expected to make it into the semi-final at the very least but seven other seeds will be out to stop him getting that place. Diego Schwartzman is the highest ranked of those players with the other six coming in the form of Adrian Mannarino, the surprise package of the season so far in Aslan Karatsev, Fabio Fognini, Cristian Garin, Benoit Paire and Marton Fucsovics.
Once again there are some regular names who aren’t seeded for the tournament in this quarter of it. They include Tennys Sandgren, Mikhail Kukushkin and the impressive youngster Miomir Kecmanovic. The most famous one of them though is the man who claimed ultimate glory in America back in 2014 in the form of the US Open champion of that year in the big hitting Croatian star Marin Cilic who hopes to get back to those glories here.
Bottom Quarter
The highest seed in the bottom quarter of the draw this week is the former ATP Finals winner Stefanos Tsitsipas. He won’t have been seeded this high for a Masters 1000 event in the past so it will be interesting to see how he copes with that. Seven other seeds will certainly be interested and they are headed up by Denis Shapovalov. The other six are Hubert Hurkacz, Ugo Humbert, Milos Raonic, Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Sonego and Kei Nishikori who often likes conditions in Miami.
As with the rest of the draw there are some household names to look out for in this part of the draw. Former US Open and Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson is probably the pick of them but there is also Fernando Verdasco, Jordan Thompson, Joao Sousa and Jeremy Chardy while Denis Kudla will be hoping that home surroundings can inspire him to be competitive in what looks like a high quality group full of young talent.
Betting
I’ll go for a bet in each half of the draw this week with the first of them being on a Denis Shapovalov who was a semi-finalist here two years ago when the tournament was last played. He ran into an unstoppable Roger Federer at that point but he won’t be meeting him this week. Shapovalov comes in here off the back of a decent run in Dubai last week where his serving was impeccable for long periods. If his serve turns up here too then he can do some damage with these courts allowing him just a fraction longer to get his big shots into play. I think players comfortable in all areas of the court will be the ones to go well this week and the Canadian certainly fits that bill. He feels like a leading chance to me here.
The other player I’ve had my eye on for a while is Grigor Dimitrov. He looked very good at the Australian Open where he took care of Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem with the minimum of fuss and he had a pretty decent showing in Acapulco last week as well. He made the quarter finals there before he went down in a close match and he is another who is comfortable at the back of the court and up at the net. I get the feeling we are getting near the last chance saloon for Dimitrov to truly fulfil his talent and if that is going to happen then taking advantage of the absent big three is the time to do it. I think there’s a big week in him here.
Tips
Back D.Shapovalov to win ATP Miami (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back G.Dimitrov to win ATP Miami (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 51.00 with 888sport (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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