The British No 1 had received a bye in the first round; the match lasted for two hours and 55 minutes with Raducanu going up by a break twice in the final set; Heather Watson progresses through to the third round after victory over Elina Svitolina
Thursday 24 March 2022 23:08, UK
Emma Raducanu was beaten by Katerina Siniakova 3-6 6-4 7-5 in the second round of the Miami Open.
The British No 1 had received a bye in the first round and attacked the early stages of her debut match in Miami well.
She took the first set while Siniakova seemed to be struggling with the heat and had needed to call the trainer after only five games.
The Czech athlete rallied from 1-3 down to take the second though and gave Raducanu plenty to ponder.
In the opening stages of the third set, it seemed as if the 19-year-old had the answers. She moved 5-3 ahead and had a chance to serve for the match. But, with the finish line in sight, Raducanu was broken and she then lost the momentum completely from 5-5.
Elsewhere in the draw, fellow Brit Heather Watson came back from a set down to defeat the 15th seed Elina Svitolina 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
Watson's victory means she progresses into the third round in Miami for the first time in six years and it is her best win by ranking for more than two years.
"I love this tournament. I've been coming here for so long. I just love it here, I feel like it's home," Watson said to Amazon Prime Video.
"I'm really happy that I'm coming back into form this year. I was just thinking at the end that my fitness got me through that match. I'm really glad I held my nerve and was able to get over the line."
She will face either Belinda Bencic or Marta Kostyuk next.
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka beat Angelique Kerber 6-2 6-3 to reach the third round.
Osaka made a strong start against Kerber, grabbing an early break to go 2-0 up and never looked back in a 29-minute opening set, during which she won 91 per cent of her first-serve points.
The 24-year-old denied Kerber any chance of fighting her way back into the match as she capitalised on her serve and had total control of her game. She went on to close out the 60-minute encounter on her third match point.
The victory was Osaka's first against Kerber since the 2017 US Open and denied her opponent a fifth consecutive win in their head-to-head series. It also marked Osaka's first win over a top-20 player since last year's Miami Open.
"She's like the first high-seeded player I've beaten this year," Osaka noted during her on-court interview. "I went into the match just really wanting to play my game and I still have memories of all the matches she's beaten me before.
"I feel like I came into the match wanting to dictate and actually I wanted to come into the net if I needed to ... that's something I'm practising and hopefully as I keep playing it will get better."
