The second leg of the Sunshine Double is here, as the Miami Open follows the recently concluded BNP Paribas Open. Indian Wells provided a mixed bag of expected results and surprises. Jannik Sinner lifted the trophy, but did not face Carlos Alcaraz in the final. Alcaraz lost to Daniil Medvedev in the semis, as the top-ranked Spaniard lost for the first time in 2026.
Alcaraz is looking to bounce back and capture his first Miami title since 2022, while Sinner has played in three Miami finals and is looking for his second win. Even though there is no Novak Djokovic, the challengers include Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz.
Here’s a breakdown of my brackets and predictions.
The Miami Open
WhereLocation: Miami, Florida
The face: It’s difficult
Points: 1000
Prize moneyPrice: $9,415,725
Top seeds: Carlos Alcaraz
The defending champion: Jakub Mensik
Draw an analysis: The draw is not a good thing for Alcaraz, whose opening match is likely to be against Joao Fonseca. That much-anticipated bout will become a reality if Fonseca defeats Fabian Marozsan in the first round. Alcaraz’s path to the finals includes Delray Beach champion Sebastian Korda in the third round, Fritz in the quarterfinals, and Alex de Minaur, Alexander Bublik, or Tommy Paul in the semis.
As No. 4 Lorenzo Musetti tries to regain momentum after an injury in his Australian Open leg, a semi-final spot in his division is up for grabs. De Minaur, Bublik, and Paul are between Acapulco champion Flavio Cobolli and Doha runner-up Arthur Fils.
Medvedev, who lost to Sinner 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in the Indian Wells final on Sunday, has a good path to the bracket. He will avoid the second-ranked Italian at least until the semi-finals and Alcaraz until the final. The bottom half is home to Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, and defending champion Jakub Mensik.
Among the first round games to watch in Miami are Fonseca vs. Marozan, Ethan Quinn vs. Hubert Hurkacz, Denis Shapovalov vs. Botic van de Zandschulp, Grigor Dimitrov vs. Raphael Collignon, and Gabriel Diallo vs. Yibing Wu.
It’s hot: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Daniil Medvedev, Learner Tien, Luciano Darderi, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Ethan Quinn, Mariano Navone, Sebastian Baez
It’s cold: Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, Matteo Arnaldi, Alexei Popyrin, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, James Duckworth, Hubert Hurkacz, Zizou Bergs, Zhizhen Zhang, Jan-Lennard Struff, Valentin Royer, Arthur Cazaux
Forecasts for the last quarter: Taylor Fritz over Carlos Alcaraz, Tommy Paul over Alexander Bublik, Daniil Medvedev over Alexander Zverev, and Jannik Sinner over Jakub Mensik
Semi-finalist: Fritz over Paul and Sinner over Medvedev
Finally: Sinner over Fritz
