Emma Raducanu fought back from the edge to seal her first win against a top 10 opponent in eight months by beating Emma Navarro in three sets on the Miami Open.
Raducanu, world number 60, was a point away from the 4-1 pursuit in the final set and overcame fatigue to win a Titanic battle 7-6 (6) 2-6 7-6 (3) against the eighth seed American Navarro.
The British number two’s huge victory won her for the first time in her career against a top 10 player on a hard track.
Raducanu, who beat Japan’s World Number 188 Sayaka Ishii 6-2 6-1 in the opening round, separated the company with coach Vlado Platenik after a 14-day trial before the tournament.
But there was no adverse reaction to the world number 10 Navarro and Raducanu’s aggression in the closing phases were rewarded.
Raducanu said: ‘I am very proud of how I managed to find a third wind. I was absolutely exhausted in the second set and thought my legs would stop.
‘In the third set, I used a lot of emotions. I went through a lot and told myself I was too much to leave it to her. I just fought every point.
“I would say it’s number one (Win of the Year), because Emma is a top-10. I didn’t beat one of this year, this is my first one. She made me work so hard for every point. I had to fight, be deleted and be aggressive. ‘
Raducanu cut high-quality opening set and survived two set points against her as she fought back from 6-4 in the bind break to win it 8-6 and draw blood first.
Navarro, US Open Semi-finalist last year, responded in a fine style to seal a double interruption on the way to a 5-2 lead in the second set, as a tiring Raducanu lost her intensity.
The American easily took the second set 6-2 in 37 minutes and Raducanu, who came up near the cramp, needed ice on her legs before the decision.
The British number two quickly led 2-0 in the decisive set after breaking for the fourth time in the game and looking 3-1.
But she rediscovered her energy and after she turned two more breaking points to make it 3-2 instead of 4-1, Raducanu then cast off four straight matches to stand up 5-3.
Navarro fought back to force the binding break, but Raducanu continued to let her shots go and clinch the victory within less than 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 led 3-1 in the second set and later had to save a set point, but she won the last three games to discuss an appointment with Elise Mertens of Belgium in the next round.
In the men’s tournament, Nick Kyrgios lost his second round with Karen Khachanov 7-6 6-0, but was satisfied with his actions given his injury problems.
The Wimbledon finalist in 2022 spent the past two years struggling with knee and wrist problems, but could beat the qualifying Mackenzie McDonald in the previous round.
“We played a wonderful first set, but encouraging that I could finish 2 games this week! A lot to work on,” Kyrgios said on X.
Novak Djokovic ended strongly against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata, which turned the second set into a fight before being crushed in the Bandbreak.
Djokovic, the number four seed, took the opening set with ease with 6-0, but with the second place the entire square ended at 6-6, the Serbian gained an equipment to take the Clincher 7-1 and book his place in the third round.
