Tennis: Raducanu Ends Winless Run To Qualify For Miami Open Second Round
Emma Raducanu recorded a 6-2 6-1 over Japan’s wildcard Sayaka Ishii in the first round of the Miami Open on Wednesday.
She produced a dominant performance to win the first, as Ishii only managed to claim two games, before Raducanu raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set.
Raducanu recovered from her poor form, which has seen her lose six of her last seven matches.
The former US Open winner was beaten in the opening round at Indian Wells by Moyuka Uchijima earlier this month.
She will now face the tournament’s eighth-seed Emma Navarro in the second round.
Raducanu was delighted to end her poor run of form, while looking forward to taking on Navarro in the second round.
She said: “I’m very pleased to have got through that, it’s not an easy first round, playing someone a bit younger and dangerous and in good form. I am really proud of how I competed today, it hasn’t been easy for me coming into this but I think I put out a really good performance.”
“I think I was just so focused on every point and trying to compete. That was my main objective today. It’s nice to win in two sets in less than two and a half hours. I was really pleased to come through that.
“My opponent loves big ball striking and that would not have been the best way to play here. That would not have been the best way to play her. I was happy with how I played the match tactically as well.”
“The match against Navarro is going to be an extremely challenging match. I think it’s a match where she is probably in better form. I think I can just go out and try and express myself and compete for every point. She’s a great person on the tour, it’s one of the people that we would like to warm to and say hi.”
In 2021, Raducanu became the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title, beating Leylah Fernandez in the US Open final without dropping a set during the tournament.
It was the second major tournament of her career, and she holds the Open Era record for the fewest majors played before winning a title.
Tennis: Raducanu Ends Winless Run To Qualify For Miami Open Second Round is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
