After an eventful Indian Wells which saw its eighth winner in as many years, the focus heads across the country for the conclusion of the hard court swing in Miami. With the clay season fast approaching, many will look to stamp their authority over the rest of the field before heading to Europe. As we welcome the return of the world No. 1 Serena Williams and world No. 2 Maria Sharapova, Tennis View columnist Matt Tewhatu analyses the stacked field of the 2014 Sony Open and gives his view of the players who may flourish on the Floridian coast.

Serena Williams

Returning as the defending champion and the current world No. 1, Williams will inherently head to Miami as the tournament favorite. This is despite suffering from a lack of match play while also being under a significant injury cloud. One is unsure whether to read too much into her losses in Dubai and Melbourne as suggestions that her injury played a large part of her early season defeats are valid. It is often true that the tournament will almost always be on Williams’ racquet regardless of her opponent, and it may just depend on the Serena that turns up on the day.

Prediction: Semifinal

Li Na

Continuing a stellar year in which she’s collected two singles career titles including a Slam, Li Na seemed near impossible to beat before falling to Flavia Pennetta in the Indian Wells semifinal. She has not only trained well early in 2014, she’s also managed to schedule consecutive tournaments but spread apart. This has ensured that she’s received an appropriate amount of match play with suitable time to rest in between. Her form on hard court in 2014 is hard to deny and what strengthens her challenge for her third title of the year is that she has fallen into a relatively kind quarter of the draw. Enjoying a bye in the first round, she may not face a true challenge until the fourth round where she will potentially meet either Jelena Jankovic or hometown favorite Sloane Stephens.

Prediction: Semifinal

Flavia Pennetta

Buoyed by her win in the Californian desert, Flavia Pennetta will head to Miami with the confidence that she can make a realistic run for the title. The 20th-seeded Italian showed a strong mentality in her relatively easy win over Agnieszka Radwanska in the Indian Wells and showed that she can compete with the top five players. However, Pennetta has fallen into a tough section of the draw and she’ll potentially face three higher-ranked players in consecutive rounds after her first match. After a long run in the Californian desert, one can’t help but feel it’s a tough ask for the Italian to emulate her good form against much better ranked players than her opponents at Indian Wells.

Prediction: Third round

Sloane Stephens

It’s been a short but tough road for Stephens who has had to spend the early stages of her career in the shadow of another American woman. While making the quarterfinals or better at each of the Slams, the American is still chasing her first career singles title and continues to operate “under the radar” in big tournaments. But as she enjoys her 21st birthday on the eve of her first match in Miami, she has a unique opportunity to truly announce herself inside the top 20 on her home ground. However if she is to win her first career title, she’ll face the WTA version of Mt. Everest with a potential tournament run of Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Li Na looming. Although potentially a very tough draw, one feels that the result is not as important as the type of player and game style Stephens exhibits in front of her home crowd.

Prediction: Fourth round

Simona Halep

Since winning her breakthrough title in Nuremberg in 2013, Simona Halep has well and truly announced herself on the world stage. The Romanian arrives in Miami inside the world’s top five players and she is definitely one of the players to beat. After a tough loss to Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinal at Indian Wells, Halep will be considerably fresh heading into her first match against Casey Dellacqua. The 22 year old has a potentially problematic run through to the quarters with the left-handed Aussie first up followed possibly by a reinvigorated Venus Williams. Should she navigate her tricky early rounds, she may face Radwanska in the quarterfinals who will still likely be struggling from an injury sustained in Indian Wells. Showing that her game is well suited to most conditions, one feels the planets may just be aligning for Halep as she’s certainly showed the potential of a multiple Slam winner. This is why she can go all the way in Miami and head to the clay season full of confidence.

Prediction: Winner