AS the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Draft Central is extending the fantasy tennis coverage throughout the ATP and WTA seasons to simulate tournaments and see just how they might have gone down. The next WTA tournament to be completed will be the Miami Open, which was meant to be held in March. Still down and out with injury, top prospects in Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu, Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka will once again sit out of the tournament.

FAVOURITE

GARBINE MUGURUZA (SPAIN)

Fresh off a title at the Indian Wells fantasy last week, Muguruza will be the one to beat this time around in Miami. While Muguruza could have a tough ask in this draw, with a potential clash with Ash Barty in the books once more after defeating the Aussie world number one at the Indian Wells, there is no reason why the Spaniard cannot make it two from two to add to her tally. With plenty of confidence and an ability to win against anyone on her day, Muguruza will look to notch a few more good wins for the year and raise her ranking ahead of the upcoming Grand Slams.

CONTENDERS

ASH BARTY (AUSTRALIA)

The reigning champion is a hard one to coast past and she will be a tough competitor in the Miami Open again this year after just missing the mark during the Indian Wells. The reigning French Open champion began her run to Grand Slam victory with this tournament last year so will hope to bring back that form and take out top spot once more despite the constantly evolving top 10 that is hot on her tail. While Barty did not have the greatest start to the year, she has been fairly consistent making it to semi-finals regularly since then so just needs one last push to make another title.

ARYNA SABALENKA (BELARUS)

The now eighth seventh Belarusian is in a good position for another strong run after going down to Muguruza in the Indian Wells final and ultimately hit more highs than lows during the tournament. The 21-year-old has the one title to her name for 2020 thus far and has been a real contender throughout the season, winning far more matches than she has lost and been fairly consistent at that.

SERENA WILLIAMS (USA)

Another who cannot be dismissed is Serena Williams, who has a solid winning rate at Miami with eight titles to her name. Consistent to a tee, Williams is hard to beat on her slow days and is always a tough competitor despite only having the one title to her name in 2020. A constant threat on any circuit, Williams is a blip in the radar for any player who pulls her end of the draw, meaning anything could happen.

ROUGHIE

KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZECH REPUBLIC)

Disappointment in the Indian Wells rang true to favourite Karolina Pliskova who went down to Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16. While it may have been a bad day for Pliskova, the second seed will need to watch her back this round with plenty of tough competitors proving they have what it takes to cause upsets meaning every highly seeded player needs to put out their best performance every time to ensure victory.

DARK HORSE

SLOANE STEPHENS (USA)

Another past winner at Miami, Stephens will be on home turf with everything to play for and though she sits unseeded this time around she is still a tough competitor with plenty left in the tank and a constant drive to go one better. With six titles behind her over 2017-18, Stephens knows how to get to the top and, more importantly how to win once she gets there, so it will be a matter of the draw and her consistency to get back to top spot on the tour.