Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty are chasing the world no.1 rank at the Miami Open with the absence of Serena Williams. The 23-time champion had to pull out from Miami since she had a oral surgery right before the tournament.
Naomi is having a rather easy run in South Florida where she reached the 4th round after spending barely more than 3 hours on court. This means that she will be extremely fresh in her quest for the title in Miami. Ashleigh spent on court already 5 hours and a half as she is going through some tough matches and therefore she might struggling from a physical point of view in the following days.
Live rankings
Ashleigh is still the world no.1 in the live rankings leading Naomi with 416 points in the live rankings and she needs to win the next 2 matches to stay at the top of the rankings after the Miami Open. On the other side, Naomi needs to tournament to have a chance to be back as the new world no.1 after Miami.
Osaka in Miami, ranking, and results in 2021
Ranked no.2, Osaka has achieved a 12-0 win-loss record in 2021. Naomi is now having a run in Miami where she defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 7-63 6-4, Nina Stojanovic w/o and Elise Mertens 6-3 6-3.
Naomi Osaka will face the world no.25 Maria Sakkari in the quarter. The head to head is 3-1 for Osaka.
The Japanese has won 1 title in 2021 at the Australian Open.
The Japanese won 7 titles in her career: all of them conquered on hard courts. (See the list of her titles)
Barty in Miami, ranking, and results in 2021
At the moment ranked no.1, Ashleigh achieved a 11-2 record in 2021. Ashleigh is now having a run in Miami where she overcame Kristina Kucova 6-3 4-6 7-5, Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-2 and Victoria Azarenka 6-1 1-6 6-2.
Ashleigh Barty will fight against the world no.8 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter on Tuesday at 1:00 pm on Grandstand. Their record is 3-2 for Sabalenka.
Barty has won 1 title in 2021 in Melbourne.
Ashleigh won 9 titles in her career: 5 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts, 1 on indoor courts and 2 on grass courts. (See the list of her titles)
Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty faced off 4 times. Their actual record is 2-2. The last time they played, Naomi Osaka won 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the final in Beijing (China Open) in October 2019.
Here the video highlights.
Serena Williams in 2021
Currently ranked no.7, Serena Williams played her last match on the 18th of February when she capitulated to world no.2 Naomi Osaka 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal of the Australian Open (draw).
Currently, during this season the American has a 8-1 record. Serena Williams’s most significant result of the year was reaching the semifinal in Melbourne and at the Australian Open.
