The remaining women’s first round matches at the 2025 Miami Open will continue on Wednesday, March 19 as the likes of Veronika Kudermetova, Anastasia Potapova and Caroline Garcia take to court for their opener. Get the best predictions and tips for the day from ATP Miami Open 2025.
Veronika Kudermetova vs Xinyu Wang
In what could turn out to be a keen tussle for a place in the second round, the 39th-ranked Xinyu Wang takes on the world number 52 Veronika Kudermetova. It will be their third meeting with Wang winning in Miami and Kudermetova clinching it at the China Open last year.
The reason for this keen tussle, which is also why bookmakers have pegged the two at 10/11 apiece to win this, has been their patchy form.
Kudermetova started the season with a first round loss in Brisbane but then made the quarterfinal in Hobart and the fourth round at the Australian Open. More recently, her results have fallen away and she was ousted in the first round at the Indian Wells Open, losing to Jaqueline Cristian in straight sets.
Wang made the third round at that very tournament which included back to back straight-set wins over Mayar Sherif and Jelena Ostapenko. She was also a semifinalist in Singapore last month but other than that has struggled majorly – five first round losses in five attempts is a cause for concern.
Given what has transpired and their previous head to head, they would look at any kind of advantage they can take from this and we will have to go back to what transpired in Miami last year when Wang had overcome her opponent. That will be the psychological edge that Wang needs.
Kudermetova v Wang Tip: Wang to win: 10/11
Anastasia Potapova vs Kimberly Birrell
Anastasia Potapova has a strong 12-5 record for the season which includes a title win at the Cluj-Napoca Open but one must quickly add here that one of those five defeats did come against Kimberly Birrell – her opponent in this match.
That was in the third round in Brisbane where Birrell was then knocked out in the quarterfinals. Birrell would then go on to make the quarterfinals in Singapore too and win an ITF title but as far as her other results are concerned, they haven’t been as consistent.
A second round loss in Austin and Indian Wells in more recent times have meant that Birrell is still some way off from direct qualification for such events. She did overcame Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Harriet Dart in the qualifiers to make it through but now faces a higher quality opponent who will have a better idea on how to play her.
And if Potapova has been taking notes like Mirra Andreeva, she might have found out that attacking her opponent’s backhand and mixing things up could be a good way to go about things here.
Potapova v Birrell Tip: Potapova to win: 1/2
Caroline Garcia vs Anna Bondar
This is a battle between two out of sorts players who have barely won anything this entire season.
Caroline Garcia and Anna Bondar will be meeting for the second time having first played in this very tournament in 2022. Bondar had won that one when Garcia was forced to retire from the encounter after losing the first set.
This time around there won’t be anything to choose between the two with Garcia having won a mere two matches all matches while Bondar grabbing just one win.
Garcia, who was a quarterfinalist here in 2024 and had stormed to the number four spot in the world in 2022 thanks to her four titles including the WTA Finals, did make the second round in Indian Wells two weeks ago. She was pulverised by Iga Swiatek there.
Bondar was forced to come through the qualifiers and rather interestingly, overcame the 4/6 favourite Maddison Inglis and 2/5 favourite Irina Begu in those matches. Both went to a third set.
Here too, it’s Garcia who starts a favourite and gets our nod too given her past experience in this competition.
Garcia v Bondar Tip: Garcia to win: 9/20
