This preview focuses on three opening-round matchups at the Miami Open: Coco Gauff against Alycia Parks, Jannik Sinner’s first match after Indian Wells, and Naomi Osaka meeting an in-form qualifier.

Gauff’s meeting with Parks presents a contrast in trajectories. Parks is 25 and Gauff 22. Gauff has been embedded in the Top 5 for three years, while Parks is still seeking a consistent breakthrough. Parks brings a big frame and a big game: she is 6’1, has a title to her name and has been ranked as high as No. 40. She is 105th in the rankings now and recorded a 23-32 record in 2025. Their only prior encounter ended 6-0, 6-2 in Gauff’s favor. The immediate form mark for Parks is encouraging: she has won two main-draw matches in Miami, and she handled former WTA No. 2 Maria Sakkari in comfortable, 6-3, 6-3 fashion on Friday. The Miami courts can play quick, which will give Parks opportunities to tee off, but Gauff’s speed and consistency make her the likely favorite.

Winner: Gauff

Sinner arrives after an emotional and physical run at Indian Wells. If he needed rest, he benefited from the opening-day rain delay and the fact his side of the draw played last; he will take the court for the first time on Saturday, six days after IW ended. Not that he sounded tired on Sunday: he said Miami was “very important” to him. Last year at this time he was serving a doping-related suspension, so he has little to defend until Rome in May. He returns against the 33-year-old, 76th-ranked Dzumhur, a player Sinner has never faced. Dzumhur is 3-7 this season, is listed at 5’9 and will give up about six inches to Sinner. He does not bring a booming serve or heavy groundstroke power but will fight for every game.

Winner: Sinner

The night match to watch pairs Naomi Osaka with a 21-year-old Australian qualifier, Gibson. Gibson won two qualifying matches in Indian Wells, then beat three Top 20 opponents—Alexandrova, Tauson, and Paolini—on her way to the quarterfinals. In Miami she won two more in the qualies, and steamrolled Sara Bejlek 1 and 0 in the first round. Osaka, who spent much of her youth in this part of Florida, is 17-8 at the Miami Open with a final-round appearance in 2022. Gibson carries momentum; Osaka brings experience and a deeper well of confidence. Expect baseline power and aggressive court positioning from both players.

No. 4 seed Coco Gauff recovered from a set down to deny Elisabetta Cocciaretto a second consecutive win over her, prevailing 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the Miami Open. The match was contested at Hard Rock Stadium and, by one account, lasted two hours and 15 minutes.

Cocciaretto, the world No. 44 who had defeated Gauff in Doha and gone on to reach the quarterfinals there, took the opening set and pressed the reigning Roland Garros champion early. Gauff admitted the Doha result lingered. “The last time we played, I didn’t win, so I just wanted to overcome that feeling,” she said on court after the match. “It’s been a tough week but I don’t know, it made me realize how much I love this sport and I love playing it. Even though it’s tough, I think I enjoy the ups and downs through the journey.”

Cocciaretto’s ability to take the ball early troubled Gauff in the opening stages. “She takes the ball so early, so you don’t have a lot of time to react. Today, I think once I got adjusted to the tempo of play, I was able to control the rallies when they went the distance.” Gauff struggled with her range off the ground at times and continued to battle serve inconsistency, finishing the match with 11 double faults. Still, she maintained a steady first-serve percentage and won 63% of those points.

The American arrived in Miami after a rare mid-match retirement at the BNP Paribas Open, when she retired down a set and a break to Alexandra Eala. On her fitness she said, “I may feel it sometimes on court, but I definitely feel it less and less every day, if that makes sense,” she explained during her Media Day press conference .

Down a break to begin the third set, Gauff rallied to win four straight games and secured the decisive break to close out the match in just over two hours, advancing to the next round.

Moise Kouame announced himself on a big stage at the Miami Open with a first-round victory that carried immediate historical weight. The newly 17-year-old Frenchman, who celebrated his birthday on March 6, defeated American Zacahary Svajada 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to become the youngest man to record a match win at Masters 1000 level since Rafael Nadal in 2003 and the fourth-youngest in the category’s history.

Kouame’s win also marked the first tour-level victory for an ATP player born in 2009. The 6-foot-3 right-hander, ranked No. 385 entering the tournament, survived a tense moment at 3-4 in the second set when he fell behind 0-40 and was five points from defeat. He then won 14 of 16 points from that position to force a decider and battled through cramps late in the match to close out a two-hour, 17-minute contest.

After the win, a stunned Kouame could not hide his emotion and smiled broadly as he reflected on the result. “It’s big, it’s huge,” he said. “It’s cool because I’m on the list with all these champs,” he added. “It brings me a lot of confidence and shows me I’m on the right path, I just need to keep working.”

Kouame spoke plainly about his ambitions, calling his goals “big” and “huge” and expressing his desire to reach the sport’s summit. “I hope one day it won’t be dreams and it will be reality. This is really what I’m working for,” he said.

The victory drew attention from established figures in the sport. Kouame revealed that Novak Djokovic sent him a congratulatory message on Instagram. “I’m so nervous; I don’t know what to answer!” he confessed. “Imagine having your idol DM you like this … this is too much for me! It’s the coolest thing ever.”