The Miami Masters gets underway on Wednesday, when Nick Kyrgios will take the court–barring a late withdrawal–against Mackenzie McDonald. David Goffin and Aleksandar Vukic are also on the schedule.
(Q) Mackenzie McDonald vs. (PR) Nick Kyrgios
Kyrgios made a surprising appearance at the Indian Wells Masters and–given what happened there–it would perhaps be even more unexpected to see him play at the Miami Open. It was no surprise to see the oft-injured Aussie retire from his first-round match in the desert, albeit not before playing a decent opening set and pushing Botic van de Zandschup to a tiebreaker (Van de Zandschulp eventually upset Novak Djokovic in round two). Kyrgios is now scheduled to play his second consecutive tournament, which would be his fourth of the season and fifth since October of 2022.Up first for the 29-year-old on Wednesday is a third matchup against McDonald, with the head-to-head series tied 1-1. McDonald cruised 6-4, 6-4 at the 2021 Washington, D.C. tournament before Kyrgios got the job done 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on the red clay of Houston in 2023. McDonald is in the midst of his own comeback, but the signs for him are much more encouraging. The 29-year-old American reached the final of the San Diego Challenger and then beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Indian Wells before losing to Francisco Cerundolo in three sets. There is no need to overthink this one; Kyrgios simply completing this match would have to be considered a success by his current standards.
Pick: McDonald in 2
Aleksandar Vukic vs. David Goffin
Goffin and Vukic will be squaring off for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season when they battle for the right to face Carlos Alcaraz in round two. They just met a couple of months ago in Brisbane, where Vukic treated the home crowd to a dominant 6-2, 6-3 performance.
Unfortunately for the 77th-ranked Aussie, he has been a complete disaster since losing a five-set thriller against Jack Draper in round three of his home slam. Vukic is on a five-match losing streak, with two of those setbacks coming against opponents ranked 355th and 117th. Goffin has not been much better, but he at least managed to reach the Acapulco quarterfinals (beat Ben Shelton en route) and the Indian Wells second round (beat Lorenzo Sonego). This is a good opportunity for the 55th-ranked Belgian to avenge his Brisbane loss.
Pick: Goffin in 3
