Miami, USA, 23 March 2022 | Leigh Rogers

Daria Saville has improved her record to eight wins from her past 10 matches, continuing her impressive run at the Miami Open.

Saville scored a 7-5 6-3 victory against world No.81 Greet Minnen in first-round action today.

The 28-year-old from Melbourne needed two hours and three minutes to wear down her Belgian opponent and book a second-round showdown with former world No.1 Simona Halep.

https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1506354591696257025?s=20&t=ES2w6RrgNHPeycgCE3L2EA

This is only Saville’s third WTA-level event contested overseas this season – and her fourth in total since August 2019.

The former world No.20 has been sidelined with foot and Achilles injuries in recent years, but is making a promising return this season. Saville, nee Gavrilova, skyrocketed up the rankings to world No.249 after a career-best fourth-round run at Indian Wells last week.

Saville has beaten Halep once before, at Rome in 2016. However, the two-time Grand Slam champion leads their head-to-head record 3-1.

Saville is one of three Australian women competing in the singles main draw at Miami this week. Storm Sanders had also been hoping to qualify, but lost to world No.87 Wang Xinyu in the final qualifying round.

Thanasi Kokkinakis has successfully qualified for the men’s singles main draw, joining five compatriots in the field.

World No.97 Kokkinakis scored a 6-3 6-4 win against Italian veteran Andreas Seppi in final qualifying round action today.

Kokkinakis fired 10 aces and conceded only seven points on his service games in the 92-minute encounter.

The 25-year-old Australian has been pitted against former world No.7 Richard Gasquet, a 35-year-old Frenchman currently ranked No.81, in the opening round.

Aussies in action – Miami

TODAY’S RESULTS
Women’s singles, first round
[WC] Daria Saville (AUS) d Greet Minnen (BEL) 7-5 6-3

Women’s qualifying singles, final round
[2] Wang Xinyu (CHN) d Storm Sanders (AUS) 6-2 6-4

Men’s qualifying singles, final round
[6] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d [16] Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-3 6-4

COMING UP
Women’s singles, first round
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) v [LL] Lucia Bronzetti (ITA)
Astra Sharma (AUS) v Naomi Osaka (JPN)

Men’s singles, first round
Jordan Thompson (AUS) v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)
John Millman (AUS) v [Q] Daniel Elahi Galan (COL)
[WC] Nick Kyrgios (AUS) v Adrian Mannarino (FRA)
[Q] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) v Richard Gasquet (FRA)

Women’s singles, second round
[WC] Daria Saville (AUS) v [23] Simona Halep (ROU)

Men’s singles, second round
[25] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v TBC

Women’s doubles, first round
[2] Storm Sanders (AUS)/Katerina Siniakova (CZE) v Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/Alexandra Panova (RUS)
[3] Sam Stosur (AUS)/Zhang Shuai (CHN) v [WC] Ashlyn Krueger (USA)/Robin Montgomery (USA)

Men’s doubles, first round
[4] John Peers (AUS)/Filip Polasek (SVK) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)/Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Matthew Ebden (AUS)/Max Purcell (AUS) v Alex de Minaur (AUS)/Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP)
[WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Nick Kyrgios (AUS) v Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/Andres Molteni (ARG)

Book online, play today: Visit play.tennis.com.au to get out on court and have some fun!