Emma vs. Emma, Kyrgios, Khachanov rematch: Miami, Day 4 Preview

Emma Navarro vs. Emma Raducanu

Was Emma a popular name among tennis families on both sides of the Atlantic in the early aughts? Two decades later, the American Emma, who is 23, will meet the British Emma, who is 22, for the first time.

The American Emma—Navarro—is the favorite. She’s ranked 10th and has an 11-6 record in 2025, while Raducanu is ranked 60th and is 4-6 this season. That might seem like progress to Raducanu and her fans; even if her record is so-so, at least she has been healthy for a few months straight now. While has shown a couple of glimpses of her 2021 self in beating Maria Sakkari and Ekaterina Alexandrova, she hasn’t been able to sustain any top-level consistency for long.

The good news for Raducanu is that Navarro, despite her winning record, hasn’t been the player she was a season ago. Yes, she won a title in Merida, and made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, but there have also been some perplexing losses—to Leylah Fernandez in Doha, Sorana Cirstea in Dubai, and Donna Vekic last week in Indian Wells. Navarro doesn’t get a ton of free points on her serve, which means everything else has to be extra sharp for her to succeed. That was true during her breakout 2024, but not during her follow-up 2025 thus far.

Still, in the battle of the Emmas, Navarro is the cleaner ball-striker, better mover, and more complete player. Winner: Navarro

Karen Khachanov vs. Nick Kyrgios

If the history between the Russian and the Australian is any guide, we’ll either see an epic, or a meltdown, or both when they take to Butch Buchholz Court on Friday afternoon.

In their first meeting, in Cincinnati in 2019, Kyrgios won the first set in a tiebreaker before becoming incensed by umpire Fergus Murphy, throwing a ball at his chair, and appearing to spit in his direction. It was a tirade that cost him more than $150,000. Not surprisingly, he also lost the match.

Their next two encounters, at the Australian Open in 2020 and the US Open in 2022, surely had their incidents, but they’re more memorable for being well-played five-set wars that went down to the wire. Kyrgios won 10-8 in a fifth-set tiebreaker in Melbourne; Khachanov won 6-4 in the fifth in New York.

Since then, Kyrgios has hardly played a match. He recorded his first win since 2022 over Mackenzie McDonald in Miami on Wednesday. But while he’s just 1-3 on the season, Khachanov hasn’t been a whole lot better. He’s 4-6 this year, and has only made it out of the second round once.

Which means that, while Khachanov is ranked 869 spots ahead of Kyrgios (23 to 892), this one should be competitive. Kyrgios has the better serve, but Khachanov has the more muscular baseline game. As it so often does with Kyrgios, the result will probably come down to his motivation and self-control. I’m going to guess that he’ll do what he needs to do to compete this time. Winner: Kyrgios

Novak Djokovic vs. Rinky Hijikata

Since the Australian Open, Djokovic has played two matches—against Matteo Berrettini and Botic Van de Zandschulp—and lost them both. With his 38th birthday, and two months of dirt-ball, on the horizon, he could use a win in Miami to stabilize his season. At this stage, Djokovic probably can’t afford to look past any opponent, including this one.

Still, there are worse people he could be facing. Hijikata is a 24-year-old Australian who played at the University of North Carolina. He’s ranked 86th and is 4-7 on the season. One of those seven losses came at the hands of Djokovic, 6-3, 6-3 in Brisbane in January.

Hijikata, slightly undersized at 5-foot-10, plays a familiar baseline game with one minor twist: While he can drive a two-handed backhand, he also likes to drop one hand off and go to a slice. He tried to disrupt Djokovic’s rhythm in Brisbane by floating that slice down the middle, then stepping around and upping the speed on his forehand. It’s a decent idea, but Djokovic handled it.

In Indian Wells, Djokovic wasn’t his traditionally clinical self. Instead of locking down his game when it mattered, he played his loosest tennis and became more error-prone. He’ll have to tighten it up to advance far in Miami, but this might be the match he needs to get started. Winner: Djokovic