Miami, United States, 18 March 2013 | tennis.com.au

A large Aussie contingent will head to Miami for the Sony Open, the second of the two prestigious men’s and women’s spring hardcourt events in the US.

And many of them will be looking to carry their form from the desert of Indian Wells to the tropical humidity of the beachside Floridian city in the final major hardcourt event of the season before the tours switch to clay.

Bernard Tomic, Marinko Matosevic and Lleyton Hewitt have been directly accepted into the main draw at Crandon Park.

Hewitt, who has been handed a wildcard, has not played in Miami since 2009. His best result was reaching the semifinals three years running from 2000 to 2002.

Matosevic, who like Hewitt reached the third round in Indian Wells and defeated a seed along the way, will be attempting to get past the opening round for the first time in his career.

Tomic enjoyed a win in the first round of the Sony Open in 2012 before going down to then fifth-ranked David Ferrer in two tight sets in the round of 64.

The 20-year-old has demonstrated solid form in 2013, going 10-5 and reaching the second round at Indian Wells.

The men’s singles main draw is scheduled to be released on Monday (US East Coast time).

Matt Ebden will be aiming to join the Aussie trio in the main draw by way of qualifying – the Western Australian is the 16th seed and takes on local Steve Johnson in his opening match.

On the women’s side, Sam Stosur has announced that she will not contest the Sony Open due to a calf injury sustained prior to her quarterfinal match at Indian Wells.

> Stosur withdraws from Sony Open

Stosur’s management said that the world No.10 would be having treatment on the injury in order to get ready for the WTA event in Charleston in two weeks’ time.

Although there are no Aussie women in the main draw at this stage, three are hoping to make it there through the qualifying draw.

Casey Dellacqua, who also qualified for the main draw in Indian Wells, begins her campaign against No.3 seed Lauren Davis of the United States.

Also in qualifying is Aussie No.2 Anastasia Rodionova, who plays Kazakh Sesil Karatantcheva, and Jarmila Gajdosova, who has been awarded a qualifying wildcard. Gajdosova faces seventh seed Karolina Pliskova in her opening match.