Reigning Grand slam champions encounter in Miami Open 2018 women’s Final

The women’s final of the 34th edition of the WTA tour Miami Open tennis tournament is set to take place on Saturday 31st of March 2018. Two former and reigning Grand slam champions will face each other which is expected to become an epic encounter!

At the age of only 20, Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia is the current world number 5 on the WTA tour and Roland Garros champion of 2017.

Ostapenko will meet Sloane Stephens from the US in the final, who is 5 years older and currently ranked outside the top 10 at the 12th spot. Sloane Stephens is the latest US open Champion of 2017.

Interesting is the fact that both players triumphed in a Major as unseeded players.

There is no head to head as both have not played against each other before. Although not being the best season so far, this will be an interesting matchup for both players who are trying to attempt to win a first premier mandatory level tournament. For sure they are both hard hitters, so short point winners and ground strokes down the lines are expected.

Ostapenko takes the ball early with flat groundstrokes and can create good angels with both forehand and backhand.

Stephens has a very powerful forehand but with a swing which takes a bit more time. However Stephens moves very well and showed great recovery from her foot injury in January of this year.

The Miami Open is held at the tennis facility of Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida. The tournament holds the status of Premier Mandatory, which is one level below the Grand slam tennis tournaments. Professional tennis players from the WTA tour are obligated to compete in each of the four premier mandatories.

Besides the Miami Open, the 3 others are WTA Indian Wells (USA), WTA Madrid (Spain) and WTA Beijing (China).

The winner of each of these tournaments earns 1000 points on the WTA tour ranking, which is currently headed by world number 1, Simona Halep. The winner of this year’s women’s final of the Miami Open takes home a total price money of $1,340,860. This is equal to the men’s price money.

The first WTA mandatory of this year started in Indian Wells and was completed just last week, where the winner Osaka from Japan defeated Kasatkina from Russia with 6-3 6-2 in the final, earning 1000 points on the WTA ranking and also a total price money of $1,340,860.

Following the Miami Open, the next Premier Mandatory tournament is the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain, starting on May 5th until May 12th 2018. The last premier of the season, the China open in Beijing is scheduled to take place from september 29th until october 7th 2018.

This is the first post by @pzee01. All images above are Getty Images. The logo below is created by myself.

If you like this post please leave a comment, upvote and resteem. I am planning to make regular post on a daily basis so follow me if you want to see more!

Have a great day all!