Emma Raducanu staged a stunning comeback at the Miami Open to claim her biggest hardcourt win since her US Open triumph without an official coach. “I played every point like my life depended on it,” she said. The British No.2 took the first set tiebreak against world No.10 Emma Navarro before needing a medical timeout for blisters on both feet after a listless second set. And Raducanu seemed set for defeat when she fell 1-3 down in the final set.
But the world No.60 then fought back to win four consecutive games. And after failing to serve out the rollercoaster match at 5-3, she regrouped to win the match tiebreak to triumph 7-6 2-6 7-6. After hitting a service winner on her first match point, the emotional Raducanu put her hands on her head in disbelief. The Bromley-based star sacked her latest coach Vlado Platenik just before this event – and had her former coach Mark Petchey in her team along with her mentor Jane O’Donoghue.
“I have really got no idea how I won that,” she said. “It was a match full of ups and downs and shifts of momentum. It was so physical. It was an unbelievable match. I came here with someone and it didn’t unfortunately work out. We put some great work in.
“Certain things I am able to do on court because of good work but in the last few days I have got good friends here who know my game and know me so well and I think just trust your gut, trust your feeling and I think that is how I got here.
“In the third set I think I used a lot of emotion even though it didn’t look like it. I have gone through a lot and I told myself that I have gone through too much to leave it to her. I played every point like my life depended on it. It was pretty powerful. I would say this was my No.1 match this year.”
Raducanu, who saved two set points in the first set tiebreak, added: “My body is OK. I felt like in the second set my legs had stopped working. She was making me work so hard for every shot. It was really hot on the court and there was a lot of friction with my shoes. I don’t know how I managed to pull that out to be honest.”
The world No.60 had previously beaten two top-10 players – No.5 Jessica Pegula and No.9 Maria Sakkari – but both on grass last summer. And in rankings terms, she did not beat a top-10 player when she triumphed in New York in 2021.
