Miami Open Debuts at Hard Rock Stadium, Loses Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka - Mondays with Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

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Miami Open

(First Week)

Hsieh Su-wei beat top-seeded Naomi Osaka 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-3

David Ferrer beat second-seeded Alexander Zverev 2-6 7-5 6-3

Hubert Hurkacz beat third-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-4

Tatjana Maria beat fourth-seeded Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-2

Dusan Lajovic beat fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori 2-6 6-2 6-3

Wang Yafan beat sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-4

Bianca Andreescu beat eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber 6-4 4-6 6-1

Andrey Rublev beat ninth-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4

SAYINGS

“I think maybe today I overestimated myself maybe in a way.” – Naomi Osaka, after losing to Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei.

“I can’t play at my best level anymore, but I want to have good energy and play my best in every match.” – David Ferrer, following his upset win over second-seeded Alexander Zverev.

“I think (it’s because) I’m not really scared of losing. It’s part of the game.” – Felix Auger-Aliassime, on why he, at 18 the youngest player in the ATP Top 100 rankings, has reached the fourth round of the Miami Open.

“I have a lot of respect for those types of players who don’t have the size, have to find a different way to win. He’s a great, great player. I was impressed.” – Roger Federer, admiring Radu Albot after edging the Moldovan 4-6 7-5 6-3.

“It is difficult to make predictions. I may or may not get back to the highest level, but I do not want to regret when I retire that I did not give it my best shot” – Sania Mirza, yet another mother who is planning on returning to the WTA tour.

“It wasn’t the money, it was the points. And now they’ve taken away the points.” – Mark Petchey, a former ATP player and now a coach and commentator, questioning the new International Tennis Federation changes.

SURPRISE

Playing her unorthodox game to perfection, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei pulled off the Miami’s Open’s biggest surprise of the first week, knocking off the world’s number one player, Naomi Osaka. It wasn’t the first time Hsieh has upset the world’s top player. She beat then-number one Simona Halep last year at Wimbledon. “Every time you’ve made it and you beat a good player, you feel. ‘Wow, this is everything. This is so amazing, and I’ve made it.’” And it wasn’t easy. Osaka won the opening set and was a break up in both the second and third sets, only to have Hsieh find a way to win. “I just think I got too emotional, which is something I did last match, too,” said Osaka, who has won the last two Grand Slam tournaments. “I would just say I was kind of immature today. I was thinking too much.” Osaka served for the match at 5-4 in the second, but Hsieh produced some brilliant tennis to take it to a tiebreak, which she won. Tied 3-3 in the third set, Hsieh broke Osaka, then held easily for a 5-3 lead. She closed out the victory with a delightful dropshot winner to advance to the second week of the hardcourt event. “It’s always great to pick up a better level during the match,” Hsieh said. Until losing to Hsieh, Osaka had won 63 straight matches after winning the first set. “It’s depressing,” Osaka said. “I know that record. I was thinking about it right after I lost.”

STUNNER

What a way to make his exit from the tennis tour. Set to retire from professional tennis in May, David Ferrer pulled off a stunning win over third-ranked Alexander Zverev. “It’s a special day because it’s the last year of professional tennis for me,” the Spaniard said. “Winning these types of matches against a Top 10 player like Sascha is a gift.” It was the Ferrer of old, refusing to back off the baseline and running down every ball that reached his side of the net. He fought from behind in the second set and claimed the decisive break in the fifth game of the third. “My motivation is playing at a high level and be competitive,” Ferrer said. “It’s my goal.” He had announced his last tournament will be the Madrid Open. “I’m very happy and I’m trying to enjoy every point and every moment,” he said.

SERENA HURT

Claiming an injury to her left knee, Serena Williams withdrew from the Miami Open. It came as a surprise since she had shown no signs of injury the day before when she won her opening match against Rebecca Peterson, nor did she mention any health issues during her news conference following the match. “I am disappointed to withdraw,” Williams said in a statement. “It was an amazing experience to play at Hard Rock Stadium this year, and I would like to thank the Miami Open for putting on an amazing event. I hope to be back next year to play at this one-of-a-kid tournament in front of the incredible fans here in Miami.” The WTA said it had no information regarding when Williams was hurt. Williams won the Miami tournament eight times when it was held at Key Biscayne. The event moved to Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins’ home, this year.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

No player has won two tournaments yet this year on either the men’s or women’s tours. Going into the Miami Open, there have been 19 different champions in 19 ATP Tour-level events, while there have been 13 different winners in 13 WTA tournaments this year.

SHOE-LESS WINNER

Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada is a hard man to beat this year. The 18-year-old reached his first tour-level final in Rio de Janeiro last month and scored his first Top 10 scalp when he bested Stefanos Tsitsipas at Indian Wells earlier this month. After coming through qualifying, Auger-Aliassime reached his first quarterfinal berth at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament when he beat Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (5) 6-4 at the Miami Open. With Hurkacz serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second set, Auger-Aliassime’ shoe came off during a rally. The Canadian reached down, grabbed the shoe and tossed it towards the back wall. Apparently distracted, Hurkacz fired a forehand into the net. Three points later, Auger-Aliassime has closed out the victory. “Entering Buenos Aires, I was actually scared of not winning many matches this year,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But then after Rio, I told myself that I’m doing good work and to trust in my game and be instinctive on the court. Whenever these thoughts come in your mind, it’s all about doing the best to stay in the present. I need to focus on my tennis and on my game. To try to find ways to win. That keeps me in the present.”

SAME RESULT

Canadian Bianca Andreescu and Germany’s Angelique Kerber played twice in the same week. And Andreescu won both times. Her first victory came in the women’s singles final at Indian Wells. The second win came in the third round of the Miami Open, 6-4 4-6 6-1 – and it left hard feelings. After the two had played seven games, Andreescu took a medical timeout and received treatment on her right arm. The Canadian went on to take the opening set before Kerber ripped off five straight games to level the match. It was after 1 a.m. in Miami when Andreescu retaliated with a five-game streak of her own to grab the victory. At the end of the match, Kerber offered only a brusque handshake, then later said, “Biggest drama queen ever.”

STEPHENS STOPPED

Sloane Stephens won’t be defending her Miami Open title. Instead, Germany’s Tatjana Maria will move on after beating a Top 10 player for only the third time in her career and the first since she defeated Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon last year. “I could not be happier right now,” Maria said. “I think I played at home because I live here. It was helping me a lot.” Maria broke Stephens five times. “I just played a bad match and she played well, and that’s never a good combo,” Stephens said.

SHE’S BACK

Caroline Wozniacki left the Miami Open last year in a huff, saying fans were alarmingly aggressive towards her family in the stands during her loss to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig. Changes in the tournament’s site, moving from Key Biscayne to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, was part of the reason Wozniacki decided to return. “First of all, they changed the venue, which I think for the first year coming back it was probably good for me,” said Wozniacki, who has a home in Miami. “I do love Key Biscayne. I think Key Biscayne is an amazing place. I think it had charm, a lot of things that moving out here doesn’t. … This feels like a new tournament. That was one of the reasons. … As an athlete, you go through a lot, ups and downs, both I think on the court, but also you see a lot of things off the court. You just have to move on basically. I said what I had to say.”

SANIA BACK TRAINING

Sania Mirza won six Grand Slam tournament titles before giving birth to her son. Now she’s back in training at the age of 32. “As an Indian woman tennis player, I again find myself in uncharted territory, trying to fight my way back to the top after becoming a mother,” she said. “I still have a long way to go before I can begin to compete.” Mirza said she hopes to return to playing tennis by August, after having “to reduce considerable extra weight.” And she knows that things will be different. “It is difficult for me to assess as I have not been on the circuit for over 18 months,” she said. “I hear new names and I’m sure the level has gone up as the competition keeps getting more and more intense.”

SIGNED UP

With the clay court circuit still to come, several players, including veteran Lleyton Hewitt, have signed up for the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships that will be held in June. Stefanos Tsitsipas and home favorite Robin Haase were the first players confirmed to be in the June 10-16 field. Hewitt, who will play doubles only, and two other Australian were listed as being in the field: former junior Wimbledon finalist Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson, who will team with Hewitt.

SWISS HELP

The Roger Federer Foundation will be providing assistance for people in Southern Africa who have been displaced by Cyclone Idai. More than 600 people are known to be dead and the death toll is expected to increase. “Cyclone Idai is an unbelievable disaster,” Federer said. “And it hit the most vulnerable ones in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It will take years for people to recover.” All of the Roger Federer Foundation’s six model preschools in Malawi have been converted to evacuation centers. In the most affect district, Nsanje in south Malawi, more than 9,000 families have been displaced, including 77 of the foundation’s kindergarten teachers. Many of the foundation’s satellite centers, which are not robust structures like the model centers, have collapsed or need significant repairs before classes can be held again.

SWITCH IN GAME

Changes made by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the ATP World Tour may be adjusted because of player unrest. The ITF introduced a new World Tennis Tour this year in an attempt to streamline the lowest levels of the game, including smaller qualifying draws and establishing two different ranking systems, one at the ITF level and another for the ATP and WTA tours. The ATP also made changes to Challenger events that severely reduced qualifying draws. A protest letter to the ITF from Ana Vrljic of Croatia was signed by 700 players, and an online petition by Maria Patrascu now has more than 15,000 signatures. Because of the outcry, steps are being taken to increase the size of qualifying draws and provide more playing opportunities. The introduction of dual rankings also was a cause for concern. Before, lower-ranked players could move back and forth between ITF and ATP or WTA events, collecting points that all went towards their tour ranking. Now, many players are caught between the two systems, sometimes ranked on both but not high enough to get into either ITF or ATP and WTA tournaments. “I don’t think it should be someone sitting in an office saying you can’t follow your dream because you can’t get into a tournament,” said Mark Petchey, a former ATP player who is now a coach and commentator. “Because 90 percent of those players are actually putting money into the system. They’re paying hotels, for strings, buying food and beverages on site. There is a massive downstream effect on tennis academies worldwide, on tennis coaches, on tennis clubs. So, this will have an effect on the amount of people that have picked up a tennis racquet or have a dream of becoming a professional tennis player.”

SURFING

Miami: https://www.miamiopen.com/

Charleston: http://www.volvocaropen.com/

Monterrey: http://abiertognpseguros.com/

Davis Cup: https://www.daviscup.com/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

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$9,314,875 Miami Open presented by Itau, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (second week)

WOMEN

$9,038,428 Miami Open presented by Itau, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (second week)

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

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