In an all-American showdown featuring two former Grand Slam champions, Coco Gauff takes on Sofia Kenin in the round of 64 at the Miami Open on Friday.
Kenin advanced to this stage thanks to a straight sets victory over Petra Kvitova 6-4 7-5, setting up a rematch from the opening round of the Australian Open in January.
Match preview
Since her run to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open at the start of the year, Coco Gauff has hit a rough patch in the singles draw, not making it beyond the last 16 in her previous three tournaments.
Gauff may be weary of facing somebody with the pedigree of Kenin, seeing as the 21-year-old born in Atlanta has lost her opening round match in two of her previous three singles events, suffering a straight sets defeat to American McCartney Kessler in her first match at the Dubai Open in February (4-6 5-7).
The 2023 US Open champion has often been her own worst enemy in 2025, with 104 double faults, which have cancelled out her 69 aces.
Her first serve is still relatively strong, boasting a winning percentage of 73.3 for the year, though that number jumps down significantly on second serves to 38.6%.
At the same time, she has saved 57.6% of her break points so far this year, which has enabled her to win 73.9% of her service games.
On the other hand, she has converted 56.1% of her break points in 2025 and won 45.7% of her return points, so it is a little puzzling that she has not fared as well in recent tournaments.
After a surprising exit in the opening round of the 2024 Miami Open versus American qualifier Katie Volynets, Sofia Kenin was able to right some of those wrongs in the first round of the event this year.
The 2020 Australian Open champion overcame 13 aces from her opponent on Wednesday, but boasted an 88% first serve percentage and a 71% winning percentage on her first serve.
She won four of her six break-point opportunities, but most importantly, made few errors, with a mere one double fault in the match.
Since her opening round defeat at the Aussie Open in January, the 26-year-old who was born in Moscow has won her opening match in her last four singles tournament appearances.
For the year, she has a first-serve percentage of 70.5 while winning 65.4% of her first-serve games and 75.1% of her service games overall.
She has been able to save 54.5% of her break points in 2025 but has only been able to win 27.5% of her return games to this point of the year.
Tournament so far
Sofia Kenin:
First round: vs. Petra Kvitova 6-4 7-5
Head To Head
Australian Open (2020) - Round of 16: Kenin wins 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 6-0
ASB Classic (2023) - Second Round: Gauff wins 6-4 6-4
Wimbledon (2023) - First rond: Kenin wins 6-4 4-6 6-2
Australian Open (2025) - First Round: Gauff wins 6-3 6-3
When these two first squared off in Melbourne in 2020, Kenin recovered from an opening set defeat and eventually took command of the encounter, failing to give up a single game in the decisive third set, en route to winning the tournament.
Three years later, at the ASB Classic in New Zealand, Gauff got her revenge with nine aces while winning 75% of her first serves to claim a straight sets victory.
During that summer at the All-England Club, Kenin pulled away after a close opening two sets, winning 76% of her second serves and four break points.
In their previous meeting at Rod Laver Arena in January Kenin was no match for Gauff's serve with the latter hitting 12 aces and winning 77% of her first serves for a comfortable victory.
We say: Gauff to win in three sets
These women have played each other tough, but we believe those early exits in recent tournaments will motivate Gauff, who, when her serve is on, is among the best in the world.
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