Canadian women won all four of their singles matches over the last 48 hours at the 2023 Miami Open. On Tuesday, Rebecca Marino of Toronto, Ontario defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6, 6-2, and Katherine Sebov of Toronto defeated Linda Fruhvirtova of Czechia 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. On Wednesday, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario defeated Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-3. 3-6, 6-2, and Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal, Quebec defeated Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3.
Marino and Sebov delivered impressive upsets. Marino, who is the 83rd ranked player, beat Putintseva, who is the 43rd ranked player. Sebov, who is the 172nd ranked player, defeated Fruhvirtova, who is the 50th ranked player. Marino’s serve was exceptional, as she had 10 aces compared to zero double faults. Fruhvirtova meanwhile had 13 double faults compared to two for Sebov.
Andreescu’s serve was also working as she had seven aces compared to zero double faults in her battle of U.S. Open champions. Andreescu won in 2019 and Raducanu won in 2021, where she ironically beat Fernandez in the final, 6-4, 6-3. Fernandez meanwhile had a great comeback as she was down 4-0 in the first set, before winning 12 of the next 15 games.
All four Canadians will be the underdog in the second round however. Marino faces the sixth seed and 2022 French Open finalist Coco Gauff of the United States on Thursday. Gauff won their only prior matchup, 7-5, 6-0 in the first round of the 2022 French Open. Sebov faces the third seed, Jessica Pegula of the United States on Thursday. This will be their first head-to-head meeting. Andreescu will play the seventh seed Maria Sakkari of Greece, the 2021 French Open and 2021 United States Open semifinalist. This will be their third meeting. Andreescu beat Sakkari 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 in the semifinals of the 2021 Miami Open, and Sakkari beat Andreescu 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 in the fourth round of the 2021 United States Open. Finally, Fernandez will play the ninth seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, the 2019 United States Open semifinalist and reigning Olympic gold medalist from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Fernandez is 2-2 all-time against Bencic. Fernandez won 6-2, 7-6 in FedCup action in 2020, and 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in the third round of the 2022 French Open. Bencic won 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the first round of the 2022 Guadalajara Open, and 6-0, 7-5 in the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
