Last year's field was way stronger than this with people like Paszek, Sanja Ancic and Cibulkova.
Pivovarova and Cirstea are good, but they haven't done much in the women's game. I see no reason as to why Naomi can't beat them. Hendler and MLDB are going to create some serious fuss in a few year's time but are really young. The rest are quite behind Naomi's level.
If Naomi is on song like she was last week, she should walk away with : some serious hype, some prize money and most importantly - a precious precious precious wild card into next year's Tier I event in Miami.
The wild cards aren't official, by the way. But usually the Luxilon girls champ and the Orange Bowl girls champ get wild cards into Miami. The boys champs get wild cards into the qualies draw.
No, this is an exhibition tournament with great prizes.
All the players are invited and there's no rule for who will be invited. Usually players who either train at any of IMG's two academies or are managed by IMG are invited.
Next up in the quarters is either American Jamie Hampton or Holland's Brooke Bolander. Hampton is ranked in the 200s in juniors and 800s on the womens tour. Hasn't played much since making semis of the Easter Bowl last year. Bolander is only 15, must have been injured as she hasn't played much in the past year. Anna Fitzpatrick beat her 2 and 2 in the autumn.
Naomi will be happy that Larcher de Brito and Tamaryn Hendler are in the opposite half !