The WTA's Miami Open is underway this week, and today's biggest second-biggest news was how the World #1 ranked Ashleigh Barty (6/10) came close to losing to Kristina Kucova (5.5/10, 149th) despite a relatively easy win in the first set. Kucova took the second and dominated early in the third, even taking Barty to a match point before ultimately falling short and losing in what would have been a momumental upset.
The biggest news was that the WTA has made a decision on the "path to normal" in regards to rankings, after a bizarre system that preserved Barty's ranking even as others racked up tournament wins (which curiously nobody batted an eye over when it was announced last year).
In other action today, Veronika Kudermetova (9/10) defeated Danielle Collins (9/10) in the sort of matches I hate: two hot girls head to head in the early non-televised rounds depriving us of their matchups this weekend when the TV cameras will be on.
Marketa Vondrousova (7/10) defeated Qiang Wang (5/10), Iga Swiatek (7/10) beat Barbora Krejcikova (6.5/10), Angelique Kerber (8/10) destroyed Mexico's Renata Zarazua (7/10) 6-0,6-0, and Aryna Sabalenka (6.5/10) came back from a first set loss to (sadly) eliminate Bulgarian hottie Tsvetana Pironkova (9.5/10).
Johanna Konta (8/10, down from 8.5/10 four years ago) beat Alyssa Milano lookalike Magda Linette (8.5/10), and then if that wasn't bad enough Elina Svitolina (9/10) came back to defeat Shelby Rogers (9/10) in yet another "where are all my hotties going" matchup.
Croatian cutie Ana Konjuh (8.5/10) defeated Madison Keys (8/10) who I always keep typing as "Keyes" because that just makes more sense dammit. Ekaterina Alexandrova (8.5/10) barely broke a sweat in the 27C heat beating Nadia Podoroska (7/10, 7.5/10 if she didn't remind me of a girl I once dated). Switzerland's drool-catching Belinda Bencic (8/10) easily beat Kazakhstan's lovely Zarina Diyas (8/10) in two sets, while Victoria Azarenka (8/10) didn't even have to play as Germany's Laura Siegemund (7/10) withdrew and granted the aging Belorussian a walkover. Meanwhile, Jelena Ostapenko (8/10) took down Kirsten Flipkens (8/10) in a provocatively sexy vs innocently sexy battle where like a bad rerun of Highlander there can be only one...
Later in the day Simona Halep (8/10, also down from 8.5/10 four years ago) defeated France's Caroline Garcia (7/10), Anastasija Sevastova (5.5/10) eliminated Cori Gauff (5.5/10), and finally Petra Kvitova (6.5/10) (sadly, but expectedly) easily beat Alizé Cornet (8.5/10)
