The opening day of the ATP Miami Open takes place on Wednesday when the second Masters 1000 event of the year gets underway with the unseeded players looking for a win which will take them through to a clash with a seed in the second round.
We have to wait until Friday for the seeds to come into the tournament but there are plenty of recognisable names on the court on Wednesday and some good looking matches which should ensure a decent quality is on show.
Stadium
We have three matches from the ATP draw on the main stadium court on Wednesday but we have to wait until after a women’s match for the men’s action to get going. When it does, Gael Monfils will be on show to take on Fabian Marozsan. The next men’s match concludes the day session as the home qualifier Mackenzie McDonald goes up against the exciting Nick Kyrgios. The one men’s match in the night session comes along in the second match of it as Thiago Seyboth Wild meets Quinten Halys for a place in the second round.
Grandstand
That means it is a day where there is just the two matches from the ATP draw over on the Grandstand and they bookend the day and night. We open up the day with a good looking match for a first round clash as Alexander Bublik goes up against Sebastian Baez. Once three women’s matches take place the second game will come along to round off the night session as the home wildcard Eliot Spizzirri goes up against the British qualifier Billy Harris who did well to come through qualifying in the style he did.
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Butch Buchholz
There are only two matches over on the Butch Buchholz court but they probably aren’t going to be on court much before the night session because three women’s matches take place first. When they do get underway we have the home player Aleksandar Kovacevic takes on the competent Miomir Kecmanovic. When they are done the action over on the third court will conclude when Arthur Rinderknech faces off against the Spanish player Jaume Munar in what might be a tight match given the slower conditions at night.
Best of the Rest
There are three matches over on Court 1 where Corentin Moutet is probably the biggest name who is on show there, but to be fair Alexandre Muller has a decent reputation and he is also on this part of the grounds for those with a grounds pass to watch or those who have access to all of the court streams. Court 2 will be a popular one because the likes of David Goffin and Brandon Holt will be on show over there while on Court 5 we have the Australian pair of Rinky Hijikata and Christopher O’Connell on court.
Betting
Both Eliot Spizzirri and Billy Harris have both been going well on the Challenger circuit this season and one of them will earn their first Masters 1000 win when they meet over on the Grandstand on Wednesday evening and at the prices the Briton could well be the one to be on. He has more experience than his American counterpart here having played in some big events in the grass season last term, not to mention representing Great Britain in the United Cup and Davis Cup.
The other thing Harris has on his side is two qualifying wins to make it into this main draw, including a victory over Hugo Gaston in the final qualifying round which could be significant because the French player beat Spizzirri in qualifying for Indian Wells. Harris will have a feel for how the courts are playing and as long as that three-hour epic in the opening round of qualies isn’t still in his legs he has enough going for him to come through at the prices in a match which doesn’t look too far off 50:50 to me.
Tips
Back B.Harris to beat E.Spizzirri for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Unibet
