Miami Open: draw + wild cards
The Miami Open draw ceremony is set for Monday, March 16 at 1 PM local — brackets go live then, so expect first-round matchups to land today for planning purposes Sportskeeda. Tournament organisers also confirmed eight WTA wild cards (including two former champions), injecting proven names into early rounds — that ups upset potential and makes defending points matter for rising stars like Alexandra Eala, who needs a deep run to hold ranking gains from last year Last Word on Sports Rappler.
Wild cards were awarded to Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Ashlyn Krueger, Jennifer Brady, Lilli Tagger, Emerson Jones and Darja [Vidmanova miamiopen.com]. Two of those recipients are past Miami champions: Venus Williams is a three-time Miami Open winner and Sloane Stephens won the title in [2018 miamiopen.com]. Five of the women granted wild cards are teenagers or recent college standouts — Lilli Tagger (2025 Roland Garros junior champion), Emerson Jones (former junior world No.1, 17), Darja Vidmanova (NCAA triple crown winner) and the 21-year-old Ashlyn Krueger, who reached the Austin semifinal earlier this [season miamiopen.com]. Alexandra Eala will be defending 390 ranking points from her 2025 Miami semifinal run, a haul the tournament awarded alongside roughly $332,160 in prize money for a 2025 [semifinalist tennishead.net]. Eala enters Miami ranked No.32 with 1,432 points in the latest WTA listings, so the 390 points currently on her tally represent a clear chunk of her total and will drop off if she fails to match last year’s [result espn.com]. The WTA singles main draw for Miami will include 96 players made up of 76 direct entrants, 12 qualifiers and eight wild cards, meaning these eight additions will occupy the fixed wild-card slots in the bracket when it is released. [tennis365.com]
