Tennis LIVE: All Miami Open matches delayed as Aryna Sabalenka threatens to skip event

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It's official, it's a washout at the Miami Open.

Organisers have just confirmed that Sessions 3 and 4 for Wednesday 18th (the day and night sessions) have been cancelled, and that all matches will be rescheduled.

Impacted ticket holders will receive an email with next steps. Express Sport has outlined the ticket policy in a post below.

We'll be back to keep you updated with all of Thursday's action at the Hard Rock Stadium, no doubt it will now be a busy one!

With the day session now entirely cancelled on Wednesday at the Miami Open, organisers have confirmed that ticket holders will receive an email with next steps.

The Miami Open website states the following RE the ticket policy.

For Grandstand and grounds pass ticket holders, “when the day session is ended before the completion of one match (no completed matches)” … due to inclement weather”, ticket holders are eligible for exchange as provided in the Ticket Exchange Policy.

The policy states: “If a Miami Open session is cancelled (as provided for in the Cancellation Provisions below), tickets can be exchanged for a one-for-one basis for this year’s Miami Open (2026), subject to availability.”

No. 4 seed Lorenzo Musetti has withdrawn from the Miami Open, citing an arm injury.

The Italian was forced to retire mid-match at January's Australian Open, when he got hurt while leading Novak Djokovic by two-sets-to-love in the quarter-finals.

Musetti returned to competition in Indian Wells earlier this month but lost his opening match. And he is now out of Miami, where he received a bye into the second round and wasn't due to play his first match until later this week.

Read more here

Most big tennis tournaments have roofs over the centre court, sometimes over the second-biggest stages, too.

But there are no roofs at the Miami Open, and organisers have struggled so far this year. First, WTA qualifying was cancelled over the weekend.

Now, day two of the WTA main draw and day one of the ATP event has been affected by the rain. Most matches on Wednesday have been cancelled. It's currently 5.23pm local time in Miami, and there has been no play at all so far.

So why does the Miami Open not have a roof? The answer is simple, the tournament relocated to the Hard Rock Stadium in 2019. It's not a permanent tennis venue, the Hard Rock is home to the Miami Dolphins. The Miami Grand Prix also happens around the site. That means organisers of the tennis tournament have no chance of building a roof for the two-week event.

A new order of play has been released for the Miami Open. There are now just 14 matches on the schedule, and some which had previously been removed are now back on the list.

The Grandstand night session is set to start at 7pm local time (11pm GMT) as planned, featuring Venus Williams vs Francesca Jones, and Alexandre Muller vs Matteo Berrettini.

The matches on other courts due to start not before 5pm local time are: Denis Shapovalov vs Botic van de Zandschulp; Viktorija Golubic vs Peyton Stearns; Eva Lys vs Yuliia Starodubtseva; Reilly Opelka vs Nuno Borges; Emiliana Arango vs Oksana Selekhmeteva; Alycia Parks vs Sinja Kraus; Dalma Galfi vs Elvina Kalieva; Lilli Tagger vs Ella Seidel; Giovanno Mpetshi Perricard vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli; Darja Semenistaja vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto; Anastasia Zakharova vs Anna Bondar; Tereza Valentova vs Katie Volynets.

Jamie Murray, the former doubles world No. 1 and current tournament director of the ATP 500 event at the Queen’s Club, was in Sky Sports’ commentary booth on Wednesday, expecting to call matches.

That didn’t quite go to plan, with play delayed due to rain. As a tournament director, he knows how these delays work. And with some matches now cancelled and postponed until tomorrow, Murray explained what fans could expect from Thursday’s schedule in Miami.

“It probably depends on how many match courts they can put in play tomorrow. On the schedule today, they’ve got eight courts. They might have the potential to do 10 or 11 courts. It also depends on how many are set up for electronic line calling, hawkeye, all the sort of stuff as well. We’ll see, but there’s going to be a lot of matches for sure,” he said.

“I think, ideally, they’ll try to get through everything just so that they’re back on track and players aren’t necessarily having to play back-to-back or even double up on one day. I think they’re far away from that. The good thing is there are a lot of days in the tournament as well. They’re not playing five-set matches as well for the guys, so for them to play back-to-back three-setters, I don’t think it’s much of an issue. And, to be honest, I think half the draw would rather be doing that anyway! I don’t think they like the days off.”

There will be no play at the Miami Open until at least 4pm local time / 8pm GMT.

Some matches have now been cancelled for the day. Venus Williams' clash with British No. 4 Francesca Jones is no longer on the schedule.

On the ATP side, the following matches have been cancelled for the day:

Ethan Quinn vs Hubert Hurkacz

Alexandre Muller vs Matteo Berrettini

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Arthur Fery

Marcos Giron vs Martin Landaluce

Darwin Blanch vs Jan Lennard Struff

Nikoloz Basilashvili vs Mariano Navone

Six WTA matches have also been removed from the schedule but there are two empty 'WTA Match' slot on the schedule.

Read the full list of affected matches here

Play has yet to get underway on Wednesday, but the WTA main draw kicked off yesterday, and British No. 3 Katie Boulter booked her spot in the second round with a 7-6(9) 6-4 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

It was “revenge” for Boulter, who lost to the Spaniard at the US Open a couple of years ago, while she was the 31st seed. After beating Bouzas Maneiro in Miami, Boulter told Sky Sports: “That kind of stung me and I wanted revenge.

“It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the draw. I actually let that one get away from me, but I know how good a player she is and I felt like the level and quality of our tennis tonight was good, but really pleased with the way I played today.”

It looks like the rain has stopped in Miami – at least for now! Pictures show the courts looking nice and dry around the Hard Rock Stadium, but play is still not scheduled to resume for about 40 minutes.

Sky Sports cameras showed some players practising on the damp courts, while others warmed up on the players' grass around the stadium. “Here are some shots behind the scenes. It has stopped raining, it’s starting to brighten up a little bit, and as you can see, some players are actually hitting [on] these rather damp match courts,” Jonathan Overend said on commentary.

Coco Gauff retired mid-match in Indian Wells last week and said it felt like a “firework was going off in [her] arm”. She suspected it was a nerve problem and planned to get an MRI scan – and the scan confirmed her suspicions. The 22-year-old has given an update on the injury as she prepares to compete in Miami Open, having considered skipping the tournament altogether.

“It was a nerve thing, like I said immediately after the match. Every day is different. But for the most part, I’ll be fine playing this tournament. I may feel it sometimes on court, but I definitely feel it less and less every day, if that makes sense,” she explained.

“The goal was to play this tournament. There was a thought of skipping it. I think if it wasn’t Miami, I would probably skip this tournament. But the fact that it is, I really wanted to play here.”

Read the full story here

The players may not be on the courts in Miami, but they have still been able to speak to the press during the pre-tournament media days. And world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who is fresh off the back of a title win in Indian Wells, has threatened to skip one particular WTA 1000 tournament.

The Belarusian was expected to compete in Dubai last month, even turning up to the tournament site and practising, but ultimately withdrew, citing a hip injury. World No. 3 Iga Swiatek also withdrew, and at the time, tournament director Salah Tahlak told The National that the two players should be punished for skipping the event. “The reasons for withdrawal were a bit strange. Iga said she wasn’t mentally ready to compete, while Sabalenka said she has some minor injuries,” he said.

Sabalenka has now responded, and says she may never compete in Dubai again. “His comment was ridiculous. I'm not sure if I ever want to go there after his comment. For ‌me it's too much,” she said in Miami.

Read the full story here

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