Emma Raducanu produced another great performance to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open for the first time in her career after US opponent McCartney Kessler retired with a back injury and Raducanu led 6-1, 3-0.
Two days after one of the most memorable victories of her career, the dramatic three-set fuss and the world's eight Emma Navarro, Radukanu returned to the court with confidence waving and performed at an outstanding level until the end of the match. By reaching 16 rounds in Miami, Radkanu rivaled her best results at the WTA 1000 event.
In theory, this was supposed to be a key issue for one of the WTA's fastest rising players. After spending her formative years in college, Kessler just began her full-time professional journey in the 2023 season, then rose from outside the top 900 to the top 50, winning two WTA titles in recent months.
However, from the beginning, Radkanu refused to allow Kessler to breathe. As both players controlled the baseline and wrestled to the first strike at the rally, Radkanu quickly settled down, returning service to spectacularly, robbing her time from Kessler with the depth of her relentless return and attack.
“I think my movements are pretty good right now,” Radkanu said. “I think I'm advocating better. I think I'm back really well. I'm pretty pleased with most areas of my game, and that's something I'm trying to keep improving.”
The continuous improvements behind her serve were even more noteworthy. She has struggled with her serve in recent months, but Radkanu has registered the first hold of the match with three consecutive aces. As she settled further, Radukanu hit the ball cleanly from both wings as he rolled over during the match.
As Radukanu's victory became more and more likely, Kessler called for his trainers to be defeated 6-1, 3-0. After a brief conversation, the match ended.
On the eve of this impressive run, Radukanu chose to end his trial coaching period with experienced Slovak Vladimir Pratenik. She was encouraged by a variety of familiar faces this week, including former player and family friend Jane O'Donoguet.
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Regardless of the people around her this week, courtroom Radukanu is more closely resembling the former top ten players than she has for a long time.
She believed in a relaxed approach to performance this week, as she looked back at another powerful performance. “I think this week is a different approach. I was playing spikeball with my team five minutes before the match. It helps me relax. When I'm playing the best tennis I really express my personality and myself. I'm a bit of a free spirit.
Iga Swiatek continued to build momentum and confidence as he reached the fourth round with a 6-1 victory over 27th seed Belgian Elise Mertens.
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Through a very tight opening set, Mertens showed her intelligence and wit as she made life difficult for the second species. However, in the tiebreaker, Swiatek rose to the occasion and then played a great second set to seal the victory.
“I'm happy that you kept my focus. I knew that the serve wasn't working perfectly on the first set, but I'm happy that you were patient enough to work for it,” Paul said. “On the second set, I felt much better.”
With this victory, Swiatek is the first player in history to reach 16 rounds in the 25th consecutive WTA 1000 events since the category was created in 2009.
Meanwhile, the 19-year-old wildcard ranked 140th, Alexandra Eerra defeated Australian open winner Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2 to reach the fourth round, becoming the first Filipino tennis player during the opening era.
Novak Djokovic, the fourth seed of the boys, reached week two with a 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory over Kamilo Ugo Karabery, who was trying to find his foot after the rocky start of the season.
