Bianca Andreescu drilled seven aces en route to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Emma Raducanu on Wednesday in a first-round match at the Miami Open between two former U.S. Open champions.
Andreescu, 22, registered 32 winners while improving to 2-0 against the 20-year-old Raducanu of Great Britain. The Canadian overcame 34 unforced errors during a match that lasted two hours and 33 minutes.
The 2019 U.S. Open champion said maintaining her calm was a key ingredient in the victory.
“You never know what to expect — I just came in here wanting to play my best with what I had today, and I think I did that,” Andreescu said. “Emma played amazing. She’s an incredible player and I have a lot of respect for her.
“I didn’t let my negative emotions get the best of me. I stayed positive, I was very energetic and I never gave up.”
Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champ, had twice as many unforced errors (40) as winners (20).
“It was always going to be a difficult matchup,” Raducanu said. “There were definitely patches of good tennis in there.”
Raducanu said she was experiencing problems with her wrist during the match.
The other time the pair played was last year in Rome when Andreescu led 6-2, 2-1 before Raducanu retired with a back injury.
Andreescu will face seventh-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari in the second round.
Among the other first-round winners were 2020 Australia Open champ Sofia Kenin, who notched a 6-0, 7-6 (5) victory over Australian qualifier Storm Hunter. Kenin had a 28-7 edge in winners.
Madison Brengle prevailed 7-6 (5), 5-2 when Amanda Anisimova retired due to a left hip injury. Taylor Townsend beat Hungary’s Anna Bondar 6-4, 6-0, and Robin Montgomery earned her first career main-draw win by outlasting Romania’s Ana Bogdan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Also moving on was Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann. France’s Marketa Vondrousova swept past Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-4, 6-1.
Other first-round winners include Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, Varvara Gracheva of Russia, Sorana Cirstea of Romania, Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic and Erika Andreeva of Russia.
–Field Level Media