{"id":99692,"date":"2026-03-17T23:19:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=99692"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:19:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:19:44","slug":"wta-miami-day-2-predictions-williams-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/03\/17\/wta-miami-day-2-predictions-williams-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA Miami Day 2 Predictions Including Venus Williams vs Francesca Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WTA Miami Open gets underway at Hard Rock Stadium, the second leg of the Sunshine Double, following Indian Wells. While the top seeds have received byes, there\u2019s still plenty of intriguing first-round action to get stuck into on Day 2. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule. But who will advance?<\/span><\/p>\n

WTA Miami Day 2 Predictions<\/span><\/h2>\n

Emiliana Arango vs Oksana Selekhmeteva<\/span><\/h4>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong> First meeting<\/span><\/p>\n

Selekhmeteva broke into the Top 100 for the first time last year, picking up a pair of WTA 125 titles along the way, and has carried that momentum into 2026 with an 8-5 record so far. She\u2019s a left-handed baseliner who can be hard to read, and hard courts have been her most productive surface at Tour-level. Arango, the Colombian veteran, is a solid competitor who has spent years grinding on the WTA circuit, but she\u2019s been inconsistent on hard courts and hasn\u2019t strung together any serious results in recent months. Selekhmeteva\u2019s combination of confidence, upward trajectory, and slightly sharper hard-court form makes her the pick to come through this one.<\/span>
\nPrediction: Selekhmeteva in 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Ann Li vs Kimberly Birrell<\/span><\/h4>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong> Li 1\u20130 Birrell<\/span><\/p>\n

The one previous meeting between them went Li\u2019s way at the Singapore Open earlier this year, a tight tiebreak affair across two sets.\u00a0Birrell has been in excellent shape in 2026, going 15-8 on the season with semifinal appearances at Adelaide and Austin, and she\u2019s been particularly sharp on hard courts.\u00a0She reached the qualifying final here in Miami before earning her main-draw spot. Li is a capable player who competes hard but has been inconsistent at the top level. Birrell\u2019s volume of wins and her strong preparation coming into this tournament give her the edge, even with the head-to-head against her.<\/span>
\nPrediction: Birrell in 3<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Solana Sierra vs Kamilla Rakhimova<\/span><\/h4>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong> Rakhimova 1\u20130 Sierra\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sierra and Rakhimova have actually met this year already, with Rakhimova taking that encounter in straight sets back in February. Sierra\u2019s 2026 results tell a difficult story, though she can pick up wins against lower-ranked opposition. Rakhimova enters this match having navigated a tough qualifying campaign, beating Leolia Jeanjean in three sets to make the main draw.\u00a0 The head-to-head edge, combined with Rakhimova\u2019s competitive recent form and the fact she\u2019s already proven she can handle Sierra this season, make the Uzbek the logical pick here.<\/span>
\nPrediction: Rakhimova in 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Venus Williams vs Francesca Jones<\/span><\/h4>\n

Head-to-Head:<\/strong> First meeting<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams has lost eight matches in a row and is still searching for a first win of 2026. Jones, meanwhile, has dropped her last four, with her early season quarter-final in Auckland now a distant memory.\u00a0 It\u2019s a curious match-up given the form of both players. At the Australian Open<\/a>, Williams let a 4-0 lead in the third set slip, and at Indian Wells she pushed Diane Parry hard before fading in the decider.\u00a0The five-time Grand Slam champion can still compete at this level–the problem is converting those chances. If Jones\u2019 serve remains a liability, Williams has enough big-match resilience to take advantage of that, and given how poor Jones\u2019 serving form is right now, this could finally be the win that ends the losing run.<\/span>
\nPrediction: Williams in 3\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Syndication: Desert Sun\/USAToday Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WTA Miami Open gets underway at Hard Rock Stadium, the second leg of the Sunshine Double, following Indian Wells. While the top seeds have received byes, there\u2019s still plenty of intriguing first-round action to get stuck into on Day 2. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4590,"featured_media":87034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[10120,15969,15201,18737,13581,16188,12545,16288,4109,18183,5106,16946,16947,42394,42395,2373,2369,70,15651,5078],"class_list":["post-99692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-ann-li","tag-ann-li-predictions","tag-emiliana-arango","tag-emiliana-arango-predictions","tag-francesca-jones","tag-francesca-jones-predictions","tag-kamilla-rakhimova","tag-kamilla-rakhimova-predictions","tag-kimberly-birrell","tag-kimberly-birrell-predictions","tag-miami-open-predictions","tag-oksana-selekhmeteva","tag-oksana-selekhmeteva-predictions","tag-solana-sierra","tag-solana-sierra-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-venus-williams","tag-venus-williams-predictions","tag-wta-miami-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99692"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99720,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99692\/revisions\/99720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}