Miami Draw: Barty and Osaka back in action, Halep and Gauff could clash early

The main draw of the Miami Open, a WTA 1000 event, features 19 of the WTA's Top 20, with reigning champion and World No.1 Ashleigh Barty, Australian Open champion and World No.2 Naomi Osaka, No.3 Simona Halep, No.4 Sofia Kenin, and No.9 Bianca Andreescu returning to action for the first time since Australia. 

The Top 32 seeds receive a first-round bye. Main draw play begins on Tuesday. 

Barty, Halep lead top half of the draw.

The champion in Miami in 2019, Barty is set to play her first tournament away from Australia since the 2020 Qatar Total Open. She will open her tournament against a qualifier in the second round. The first seeded player Barty could face is No.25 seed Alison Riske. The American, who is looking to win her first match since the US Open last year, will face either 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko or Wang Xiyu. 

Three-time Miami champion Victoria Azarenka is seeded at No.14 and is a potential Round of 16 opponent for Barty. Azarenka will face either Laura Siegemund or Christina McHale in the second round and could face No.24 seed Angelique Kerber in the third round. 

Anchoring the top half of the draw with Barty are No.3 Halep, No.5 Elina Svitolina, No.7 Aryna Sabalenka, and recent Doha champion, Petra Kvitova. 

A two-time semifinalist, Halep will face either Caroline Garcia or a qualifier in the second round and could face teen phenom Coco Gauff in the third round. The young American has found good form since the Australian Open, making the semifinals at the Adelaide International and the quarterfinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. It would be the second meeting between the two, with Halep having won their first meeting at 2019 Wimbledon, 6-3, 6-3.  

Miami could also see the third meeting in six months between Halep and Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek. The two could face each other in the Round of 16 in what would be their first meeting outside of a Slam. Swiatek will make her Miami Open debut against either Dubai finalist Barbora Krejcikova or Croatian wildcard Ana Konjuh. The first seeded player the Polish teenager could face is No.18 seed Madison Keys. 

Adelaide finalist and No.11 seed Belinda Bencic could open her tournament against three-time champion Venus Williams in the second round. The American superstar is playing her first tournament since injuring her ankle in the second round of the Australian Open against Sara Errani. Williams will face Zarina Diyas in the first round. 

Osaka, Muguruza, Brady could trigger Melbourne redux in bottom half:

Australian Open champion Osaka takes her 21-match winning streak into Miami, where she will open her tournament against either Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova or Ajla Tomljanovic. The first seeded player Osaka could face is No.26 seed Yulia Putintseva, who leads their head-to-head 3-1. The two faced each other three times in 2019, with Putintseva handing Osaka back-to-back losses on grass in Birmingham and Wimbledon, and Osaka getting her revenge on hard court at the Japan Women's Open later that year.

Fresh off her strong Middle East swing, Garbiñe Muguruza takes her tour-leading 18-4 record into Miami, where she has yet to make it past the Round of 16. Seeded No.12 after winning her first WTA 1000 title since 2017 in Dubai, the Spaniard is undoubtedly one of the favorites for the title. The first seed she could face is No.20 Petra Martic, and the seeded player she could face in the Round of 16 are either No.8 seed Bianca Andreescu or Amanda Anisimova. 

Should Muguruza and Andreescu meet, it will be their first meeting since Andreescu won 12 of 13 games to defeat the Spaniard during her electric run to the 2019 Indian Wells title. 

Andreescu played her first tournament in 13 months at the Australian Open where she lost in the second round to Hsieh Su-Wei. The 20-year-old bounced back immediately, making the semifinals of the Phillip Island Trophy the following week in just her second tournament since the 2019 WTA Finals. She then withdrew from the Middle East swing to manage her load. 

The Canadian is seeded No.8 and will face either Yaroslava Shvedova or a qualifier in her opening round. The first seed she could face is 28th seed Anisimova, who will play either Sloane Stephens or a qualifier in her opener. 

World No.4 Sofia Kenin is set to play her first tournament since undergoing appendicitis surgery after the Australian Open. Playing in her third Miami main draw, Kenin will open against either Andrea Petkovic or Zhang Shuai and could face a familiar opponent in 27th seed Ons Jabeur in the third round. The Tunisian has yet to tally a win over Kenin in their five previous matches.

Also in Kenin's section of the draw are Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady and Elena Rybakina. Brady is still looking for her first match win in Miami, having fallen in the first round of main draw or qualifying in her previous three appearances. 

Undoubtedly a different player now, Brady will face either Guadalajara champion Sara Sorribes Tormo or Bernarda Pera in her opening round. The first seeded player Brady could face is Rybakina, and the American could have to go through Kenin and Muguruza to set up a rematch of the Australian Open final against Osaka in the semifinals.