Emma Raducanu beats eighth seed Emma Navarro in gruelling clash at Miami Open
The British number two’s mammoth victory saw her win against a top-10 player on a hard court for the first time in her career.
Emma Raducanu fought back from the brink to seal her first win against a top-10 opponent in eight months by beating Emma Navarro in three sets at the Miami Open.
Raducanu, world number 60, was a point away from trailing 4-1 in the final set and overcame fatigue to win a titanic struggle 7-6 (6) 2-6 7-6 (3) against eighth-seeded American Navarro.
The British number two’s mammoth victory saw her win against a top-10 player on a hard court for the first time in her career.
Raducanu, who beat Japan’s world number 188 Sayaka Ishii 6-2 6-1 in the opening round, parted company with coach Vlado Platenik after a 14-day trial before the tournament.
But there was no adverse reaction against world number 10 Navarro and Raducanu’s aggression in the closing stages was rewarded.
Raducanu said: “I’m really proud of how I managed to find a third wind. I was absolutely exhausted in the second set and thought my legs were going to stop.
“In the third set I used a lot of emotion. I’ve gone through a lot and told myself I’d been through too much to leave it to her. I just fought every single point.
“I’d say it’s number one (win of the year) because Emma is a top-10. I haven’t beaten one this year, this is my first one. She made me work so hard for every point. I had to fight, scrap and be aggressive.”
Raducanu snatched a high-quality opening set, surviving two set points against her as she fought back from 6-4 down in the tie-break to win it 8-6 and draw first blood.
Navarro, US Open semi-finalist last year, responded in fine style to seal a double break on her way to a 5-2 lead in the second set as a tiring Raducanu lost her intensity.
The American easily served out to take the second set 6-2 in 37 minutes and Raducanu, who had appeared close to cramping up, needed ice on her legs before the decider.
The British number two quickly fell 2-0 down in the deciding set after being broken for the fourth time in the match and looked down and out when trailing 3-1.
But she rediscovered her energy and after staving off two more break points to make it 3-2 instead of 4-1, Raducanu then reeled off four straight games to lead 5-3.
Navarro battled back to force the tie-break but Raducanu continued to go for her shots and clinched victory in just under three hours.
Polish second seed Iga Swiatek, a Miami Open winner in 2022, booked her place in the third round with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Caroline Garcia.
Swiatek fell 3-1 behind in the second set and later had to save set point, but she won the last three games to book an appointment with Elise Mertens of Belgium in the next round.
In the men’s draw, Nick Kyrgios lost his second-round clash with Karen Khachanov 7-6 (3) 6-0 but was pleased with his performance given his injury troubles.
The 2022 Wimbledon finalist has spent the last two years struggling with knee and wrist problems but was able to beat qualifier Mackenzie McDonald in the previous round.
“We played a great first set but encouraging that I could finish 2 matches this week! Plenty to work on,” Kyrgios said on X.
Novak Djokovic finished strongly against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata, who turned the second set into a battle before being crushed in the tie-break.
Djokovic, the number four seed, took the opening set with ease 6-0 but was taken the distance in the second before triumphing 7-1 in the tie-break.
