Coco Gauff will start her 2024 Miami Open campaign against Nadia Podoroska, which is a pretty interesting matchup.
The American didn't have a great time in Miami last year because she lost fairly early to Anastasia Potapova. It was a pretty frustrating loss for Gauff, who lives in Florida and should do really well in these familiar conditions.
The hope this year is that she'll do much better, especially after the Indian Wells, which could be considered a success despite losing. She had some troubles in her earlier matches but won a few matches before losing to Maria Sakkari.
Podoroska is a fine matchup for her because the Argentine doesn't play her best tennis on hard courts. She doesn't have the weapons needed to trouble the 20-ear-old much, but let's break it down into more detail.
Gauff and Podoroska have never played against each other. It's not a huge surprise because the Argentine had a good run at the pandemic Roland Garros a few years ago but never followed it up with much after that.
She has played well this year so far with a 9-8 record, but this will be her toughest match yet, so what can she do?
| Coco Gauff | Nadia Podoroska | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | H2H | 0 |
| 3 | Rank | 78 |
| 20 | Age | 27 |
| 16-4 | 2024 W/L | 9-8 |
| 191-86 | Career W/L | 363-218 |
Gauff is a much better player and fits better on a hard court, but she also didn't impress anybody with her level in Indian Wells. Opponents can certainly challenge her, and if Podoroska brings her aggressive style and has a good day, then things might get complicated.
I'm going to trust Gauff not to complicate this match too much. She might run into some problems, but I expect her to win in the end.
Prediction: Coco Gauff to win in two sets.