WTA Miami Futures Tips & Predictions - Sabalenka to double down with Sunshine Double

I had a couple of question marks surrounding Sabalenka at Indian Wells, mostly because it was her first tournament since another Australian Open final heartbreak and the fact she'd never lifted the title in the Californian desert. Sabalenka ultimately proved why she's No. 1 in the world and she produced some of her best tennis to surge to the title, outlasting Elena Rybakina in a quality final and avenging that final defeat in Melbourne.

With almost a week to rest, recover and prepare for Miami, I'm prepared to back Sabalenka to double down and complete the Sunshine Double at $3.50 odds with Picklebet. There's only two former Miami champions in this year's draw - one of them is Sabalenka and the other is Iga Swiatek, who has been struggling lately. I don't see anyone stopping Sabalenka - who is the defending champion - making at least the semi-finals and from there, you back against pretty much anybody. Elina Svitolina is the other form player in the top quarter of the draw and is decent value at $5.00 to make the semi-finals, but she'd likely need Sabalenka to be knocked out by someone else - she's lost the last five meetings, including in straight sets at the AO.

Pegula has been remarkably consistent dating back to the American hardcourt summer - in fact, she made seven consecutive semi-finals between the US Open in September and Dubai last month, with the streak snapped by Rybakina in the Indian Wells quarter-finals. The pair are on track to meet once again and I'm prepared to back the American to get her revenge if that matchup does eventuate.

Obviously Rybakina is on fire, but she's coming off a draining final at Indian Wells and she didn't fare so well from backing up in her next tournament following the Australian Open final, going down in the quarter-finals of Doha to Victoria Mboko. Pegula - as addressed - is as consistent as they come and she's made the final of Miami before. It will take a big performance to beat her before the quarter-finals and if she advances, we'll have her at odds of $3.40 to take out Rybakina or an unexpected quarter-finalist.

The value can be found in the third quarter. The top eight seeds in this section - American duo Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova - are in poor form, down on confidence, and in Gauff's case, under an injury cloud.

Gauff basically never retires, but she was forced to pull the plug against Alexandra Eala at Indian Wells and that's significant. It had to be a pretty serious problem for Gauff to retire and I don't see her returning after a short break at full fitness here. Regardless, Gauff was well below her best before this injury surfaced and would be faded accordingly. The same goes for Anisimova - she had a spectacular second half of 2025, but backing up those achievements are extremely difficult and so far she hasn't handled the challenge well.

So my attention falls on Bencic. I'll admit a lot of this pick is blind faith from the January form Bencic showcased at the United Cup, but she's maintained a solid base level and had two good wins in Indian Wells before running into the brick wall of Pegula in the R16. I would back Bencic - a former Miami Open semi-finalist - to beat either of Gauff or Anisimova right now, but she might not even need to on her way to the final four of this section.

Mboko's rise into the top 10 over the last 12 months has been one of the standout stories in tennis and the way she's playing, it won't be long until she climbs even closer towards the top. I'd even go as far to say Mboko is the third best player in the world right now behind Sabalenka and Rybakina. The teenage star pushed Sabalenka very close in a 7-6 6-4 defeat in the Indian Wells R16 and it also took the World No. 1 to beat her at the Australian Open. Mboko also made the final of Adelaide and Doha in her other tournaments for 2026.

Overall, it's either taking the World No. 1 to beat her this season, or Mboko is making the final. With that in mind, the Canadian to emerge from the fourth quarter at $4.00 appeals. Swiatek is obviously the main contender in this section and won the title here in 2022, but the Pole is a long way off that sort of form, when she was dominating the tour. Swiatek has lost in the quarter-finals of her last three tournaments, going down to Rybakina at the AO, Maria Sakkari in Doha and Svitolina last week at Indian Wells. Mboko is certainly playing at a level good enough to add her name to that list.