Jack Draper, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka all in action: Miami, Day 5 Preview

Jack Draper vs. Jakub Mensik

At the start of the year, I singled out Mensik as a player to watch in 2025. The 19-year-old Czech had treaded water for the first half of 2024, but he had already spent time in the Top 50, and he started to go deeper into events near the end of the season, making the quarters in Shanghai and Vienna and pushing Novak Djokovic to three sets.

So far this season, it has been the 23-year-old Draper, rather than Mensik, who has been the outstanding new face of the ATP, winning his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells and compiling a 13-2 record. By comparison, Mensik has been OK. He made a quarter in Brisbane, won two rounds at the Australian Open, and reached the semis at a Challenger in the Dominican Republic last week. His ranking of 54 is pretty much where it was to start the year.

Draper and Mensik have played once, also at a Challenger in France in 2023; the match was on hard courts and Draper won 6-4, 6-2. Draper will be favored to do the same on Saturday, but there are a couple of variables in play. What will his motivation level, and his physical condition, be like after his winning run in IW last week? Will he have a letdown, or will he be brimming with confidence? As for Mensik, we might ask an opposing question: Could his Challenger success last week, and his three-set win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday, lead to a breakout win against a guy like Draper?

One thing is certain with two guys who are 6-foot-4: The serve will be paramount. Draper has made his one of the best in the game, and Mensik, who threw down 23 aces over three sets in his opener, isn’t far behind. I’ll take Mensik in a breaker or three. Winner: Mensik

Coco Gauff vs. Maria Sakkari

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Gauff said of her level of play after she lost to Belinda Bencic in an error-strewn three-setter at Indian Wells.

She was right that her level did “seem” pretty subpar. She had gone 0-2 in Doha and Dubai in February, committed 21 double-faults in a closer-than-it-should-have-been opening win at Indian Wells, and then lost control of her forehand down the stretch against Bencic. The two elements of her game that she had recently improved—her serve and forehand—were failing her again.

But Gauff has experience digging herself out of slumps, and she was surely right not to despair in Indian Wells. On Thursday in Miami she bounced back to beat Sofia Kenin—a player who has beaten her twice in the past—6-0, 6-0.

Read more: Coco Gauff “really wanted the 6-0” as she closed out Miami demolition

“It was really great tennis from me,” Gauff said.

Are the bad times behind her now? Gauff has a 4-5 record against Sakkari, but she just beat the Greek in straight sets in Indian Wells. Sakkari was a semifinalist in Miami in 2021; now she’s ranked 51st, and is 6-10 on the year. When she faced Gauff in Indian Wells, she was good enough to force a first-set tiebreaker, but but not good enough to win it. Winner: Gauff

Naomi Osaka vs. Hailey Baptiste

Osaka fans, like Gauff fans, are waiting for the big turnaround. In her case, though, they’ve been waiting for 15 months.

Like Coco, Osaka got off to a fast start in 2025, reaching a final in Auckland before having to retire with an ab issue. That injury, as well as one that forced her out of the Australian Open, set her back, and she failed to win a match for two months. After getting a first-round win in Miami, she gave her game a rating of 75 out of 100. That number looked higher in her straight-set second-round win over Liudmila Samsonova.

Read more: Naomi Osaka survives opening scare, hits reset in Miami: "I just want to play with the big dogs"

Now Osaka will play a new opponent in Baptiste. The 23-year-old D.C. native has been on tour for six years, has a career-high ranking of No. 80, and is currently 98th. She has had a micro-surge in Indian Wells and Miami, going 5-1 at the two events, and pushing Danielle Collins to 6-4 in the third in her one defeat. Baptiste’s weapon is her heavy topspin forehand, which she can take cross-court or inside-out for winners.

Osaka and Baptiste have played once, earlier this year in Auckland, and Osaka won in three sets. Both women are probably sharper now than they were then, but Osaka looks ready to climb higher. Winner: Osaka