Emma Raducanu failed to build on the positive steps made in Indian Wells last week after suffering a difficult first-round loss to Canada’s Bianca Andreescu at the 2023 Miami Open.
The battle of the former teenage US Open champions on the stadium court at the Hard Court Arena promised to be one of the ties of the opening round of the second leg of the sunshine double after both had enjoyed solid wins in California before both falling to World No.1 to Iga Swiatek.
Raducanu had played some of her best tennis since her 2021 Flushing Meadows breakthrough in California but couldn’t repeat that form, Andreescu taking control early in the first set by breaking the Brit’s serve.
The former World No.4 had won her only slam in New York in 2019 and the 22-year-old was looking assured in the early exchanges, varying her dominant groundstrokes with some nice drop shots and strong serving.
Raducanu was coming under increasing pressure on serve, and she stayed competitive by fending off a break point to reduce the deficit to 2-4 and surviving a set point in the next game at 2-5. But Andreescu had been the better player in the first set, eventually taking it on her fourth set point, Raducanu finding the net with a backhand.
Raducanu hinted that the second set would be a lot tighter when correcting the mistakes of the opener and winning her first service game. And she missed an opportunity to take an early advantage when Andreescu faced and saved her first break point of the contest. It was clear that Raducanu was playing better now, gaining more purchase on her shots, and winning more points.
The longest game of the match came in game eight of the second set, no fewer than 10 deuce points fought over with Raducanu seeing seven break points before finally breaking Andreescu’s serve and resolve. The Brit confidently served it out to take the match into a decider.
Raducanu boasted a 100% final set record in 2023 and she was looking to maintain that record when teeing up three break points in the first game of the third set. But back came Andreescu, delving into her vast box of tricks to strike back and hold her serve.
A big net chord - Andreescu's second of the match - had her break point up at 2-1 but it was Raducanu this time who showed some fight and she served it out to level at 2-2. The Canadian had the bit between her teeth at this point and forced the break in the next Raducanu service game, some powerful forehands pushing the Brit long with a blocked return.
A firm hold had Andreescu 5-2 up but she didn't wait to serve as she wrapped up the win as Britain's No.1 pushed a forehand wide of the tramlines.
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