Three to See, Miami Open Day 5: Medvedev vs. Murray; Osaka vs. Muchova; Tsitsipas vs. Wolf

TC Live: Previewing Saturday's Medvedev-Murray clash

Daniil Medvedev vs. Andy Murray

When you’re the top seed like Medvedev, you don’t normally expect to face a three-time Grand Slam champion in your opening match. But Murray’s rankings climb continues to be a slow one, and at No. 85 he’s still well short of being seeded, even at a tournament that has 32 of them. While Murray has more career hardware than Medvedev does to this point, it has been awhile since he was higher than the Russian on the ATP totem pole. Their only meeting came back in early 2019, but even then Medvedev handled him in straight-set fashion. Murray has spent this season playing well in first-round victories, and then playing not-so-well in second-round losses—hence the No. 85 ranking. It will take a lot for him to break that pattern against the No. 2 player in the world. Winner: Medvedev

Naomi Osaka vs. Karolina Muchova

Ash Barty has retired, and four of the Top 6 seeds in Miami—Aryna Sabalenka, Anett Kontaveit, Maria Sakkari, and Karolina Pliskova—were gone by mid-day on Friday. At some point, even though she’s unseeded, we’re going to have to start considering Osaka as a potential title threat here. So far she has looked motivated, and her shots have been accurate, in her two straight-set wins—the second of which came over Angelique Kerber. But Muchova’s all-court game and her ability to absorb pace could present problems. The Czech is playing her first tournament since the US Open, but she beat Leylah Fernandez two days ago, and she has a win over Osaka, on clay. But she also has a loss, on hard courts. Winner: Osaka

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. J.J. Wolf

March has been a banner month for the U.S. men’s game. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Jenson Brooksby, and Reilly Opelka all recorded upset wins in Indian Wells. Is it time for 23-year-old Wolf, an Ohio native and former standout at Ohio State, to make a similar move against a Top 10 opponent? With his mullet, sleeveless shirts, and ranking in the 160s, Wolf has so far been more of a cult figure than a serious contender. But he has been playing better of late. Wolf qualified and won a main-draw match in Acapulco, and did the same thing in Indian Wells before losing 7-6 in the third set to Roberto Bautista Agut. He should have the crowd with him in this evening match. The only problem is, he faced Tsitsipas in Acapulco and lost 6-1, 6-0. Even when you’re improving and gaining confidence, that’s a lot of ground to make up in a short time. Winner: Tsitsipas