Emma Raducanu Completes Late Comeback To Record Third Career Top 10 Win In Miami
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Emma Raducanu needed to dig really deep to beat Emma Navarro at the 2025 Miami Open, but she managed to do it in three hard-fought sets.
One of the most exciting second-round meetings at the 2025 Miami Open was the match between two Emmas. Raducanu and Navarro are both players, which they have proved on the tennis courts many times before. While the American is a Top 10 player, the Brit is a Grand Slam champion.
They had never met before, and for Raducanu, this was a chance to improve her record against the Top 10 players. In her career, she faced ten players ranked inside the Top 10 and managed to win only two of those matches, both in 2024.
The 2021 US Open champion came to Miami without Vladimir Platenik, as she parted ways with that coach after only 14 days. But that didn't stop Raducanu from starting this match well.
She was the first player to break, but she didn't enjoy the lead for too long. After breaking for a 3-2 lead, the 22-year-old Brit was immediately broke again, and the score was tied again.
Both players then excelled on their serve. They both avoided facing any break points, which was crucial in this match. After both held their serve three times, the first set of this match was decided in a tie-break.
Navarro had an early lead and the first two break points of the set. The American was up 4-2 and later 6-4, but that lead was not enough for her to win the first set. Raducanu won four consecutive points to turn the tie-break around, winning it 8-6.
But Raducanu wasn't able to covert the first-set win into a second-set momentum. On the contrary, it was Navarro who played better early on, breaking to lead 3-1.
The American player then added one more break, and after avoiding any break points during the entire set, Navarro won it 6-2 to force the decider.
The home crowd was happy, and Navarro gave them a few more reasons to be happy at the start of the third set. She won the first eight points, quickly grabbing a 2-0 lead.
At one point, the American player was up 3-1 and 40-30, but almost in no time, she saw that lead disappear right in front of her eyes. Raducanu started playing some inspired tennis, and from 1-3 and 30-40 down, she was suddenly 5-3 and 15-0 up.
But the British player wasn't able to serve out the match, and she couldn't even get to match points when she led 5-4 and 30-0 on her opponent's serve.
Raducanu lately felt the Miami heat late in the match. She was 40-15 up on her serve at 5-5 but lost four consecutive points, falling behind by a break. Despite another comeback looking less likely, the Brit once again broke her opponent's serve to force a third-set tie-break.
Raducanu chose a very aggressive approach in the tie-break, and it paid off. She was able to win the tie-break and the match 7-6(6), 2-6, 7-6(3). She will play against the winner of the match between Linda Noskova and McCartney Kessler.
