Emma Raducanu happy to have found her spark again during Miami run

MIAMI – Emma Raducanu said she has rediscovered her competitive spirit at the Miami Open this week, after winning four straight WTA main-draw matches for the first time since her US Open triumph in 2021.

The 22-year-old Briton has struggled with form and fitness issues since her only Grand Slam triumph as a teenager and has worked with a string of different coaches without much success, with Vladimir Platenik the latest to leave her team last week after 14 days.

After reaching the third round of the Australian Open in January, Raducanu lost five out of her next six matches but has hit her stride in Miami, easing to a 6-1, 6-3 fourth-round win over former French Open semi-finalist Amanda Anisimova on March 24.

“Circumstances change all the time, but for me the biggest thing I’m proud of is finding the competitive spirit and being there for every ball and drawing that out of myself,” said 60th-ranked Raducanu, after reaching her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.

“I think that’s been missing in the last few months and even few years at times.

“That’s the biggest win for me, feeling a lot of hunger, feeling on the court competitive, wanting to run down every ball, and that’s the biggest win from this week.”

Raducanu, who is being helped by coach Mark Petchey in Miami, next plays American fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who won the final six games of her match to see off Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3.

“I feel like in my environment, in my surroundings with the people I’m with, pretty relaxed, and I can be myself and expressive and true to myself. That’s important,” Raducanu added.

“I’m really happy with how things are on and off the court right now and just also happy that I was able to transfer on to the court.”

Meanwhile, Italy’s Jasmine Paolini enjoyed a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win over Naomi Osaka in 2hr 15min.

Since returning from maternity leave 15 months ago, four-time Major champion Osaka has been showing some signs of getting back to her best, but Paolini was the first top-10 player the 27-year-old Japanese has faced in 2025.

“I don’t think that I can say that I’ve played a lot of matches against top players like this in a while,” said the world No. 61.

“The way she plays kind of catches me off guard, simply because of her height (1.63m). I didn’t know she could hit like that,” she added.

World No. 7 Paolini will next face Poland’s unseeded Magda Linette, who defeated third seed Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-4.

The American struggled with her serve, committing 12 double faults and putting just half of her first serves into play, while unforced errors piled up against her 34th-ranked Polish opponent.

Linette held her nerve as the Florida crowd came alive after Gauff pulled ahead 4-3 in the second set and the Pole ultimately prevailed to notch her first win over a top-three player.

“It was really important for me to keep pressing Coco’s serve to make sure she feels the pressure,” Linette said.

Meanwhile, top seed Aryna Sabalenka crushed 23 winners, including seven aces, to overpower defending champion Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals where she will meet China’s Zheng Qinwen, who beat American Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

The world No. 1 will be a heavy favourite against Zheng, who has never beaten the Belarusian in five previous career meetings.

Former champion Iga Swiatek came through a tight first set before dispatching Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 shortly after midnight, and the Pole signed off by writing “time to sleep” on a camera lens.

Up next for the world No. 2 is Alexandra Eala, the Philippine wild card, who advanced when 10th seed Paula Badosa pulled out of their fourth-round meeting with a lower back injury.

Eala, 19, had made headlines by defeating Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys in the earlier rounds. REUTERS, AFP