Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA 1000 Miami Open match.
In the first round of the Miami Masters, two evenly matched opponents will face off—Katie Boulter and Peyton Stearns are separated by just eight places in the rankings, with the British player ahead. The winner will play Elise Mertens in the next round. The tournament outlook is promising, as the Belgian is not significantly stronger than either of them, sitting at 28th in the world.
Katie Boulter
Compared to her opponent, Katie Boulter (35th) has played relatively few matches this year. She has competed in only three tournaments but has won four matches. She helped Great Britain win their group at the United Cup and then reached the second round of both the Australian Open and the previous WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells. Notably, only one of her three defeats came against a player outside the top 10—she lost to world No. 52 Veronika Kudermetova.
Peyton Stearns
The American has played 15 matches since the start of the year, with a slight tilt towards losses—seven wins and eight defeats. She is currently ranked 43rd in the world, equalling her career-best ranking from September 2023. However, her recent performances have been disappointing—she was eliminated early in both Austin and Indian Wells. In the first case, she lost to world No. 65 Varvara Gracheva (2:6, 3:6), while in the second, she fell to world No. 34 Magda Linette (4:6, 6:4, 3:6).
Katie Boulter vs Peyton Stearns Prediction
Stearns is slightly favoured due to her head-to-head advantage (2-0), having beaten Boulter twice on hard courts in 2023. Their first meeting in Austin went to three sets, with Stearns winning thanks to two tie-breaks, while at the US Open, she secured a more comfortable 6:4, 6:3 victory. Given that these two are closely matched in terms of ability and neither has a clear edge in match fitness, the best bet is on the total games going over.
