Miami Open: Anisimova Ends Andreeva's Winning Streak, Raducanu Prevails After Kessler Retires

Miami Open: Anisimova ends Andreeva's winning streak, Raducanu prevails after Kessler retires (Image Source: IANS)

Qatar TotalEnergies Open: Amanda Anisimova snapped Mirra Andreeva's 13-match winning streak with a gripping 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3 victory in the third round of the Miami Open.

Anisimova outlasted World No. 6 Mirra Andreeva in a grueling 2-hour, 49-minute battle to record her 10th Top-10 win of the career.

The third-round encounter was a matchup between the only two players who have won WTA 1000 titles this season. Anisimova was an unseeded titlist at this year's first WTA 1000 event, the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha.

After that, it was Andreeva who dominated the next two WTA 1000 events, winning Dubai and Indian Wells back-to-back. The 17-year-old was eyeing a shot at becoming the first teenager to ever pull off the Sunshine Double, WTA reports.

Currently ranked a career-high No. 17, the 23-year-old Anisimova is now into the Round of 16 at her home event for the very first time in her career.

She will next take on a Emma Raducanu for a spot in the quarterfinals. The 2021 US Open champion Raducanu advanced past an injured McCartney Kessler in their third-round match.

Raducanu was leading 6-1, 3-0 when the abbreviated match ended at the 43-minute mark, due to a lower back injury for Kessler.

It’s the first time Raducanu has won three consecutive matches at a WTA Tour or Grand Slam event since last summer’s tournament at Wimbledon.

"I’m very happy obviously to be in this position. It’s never the way you necessarily want to win, but I think I did a really good job to stay focused during the match," Raducanu said.

Meanwhile, there was a historic 6-4, 6-2 upset of fifth-seeded Australian Open champion Madison Keys by wild-card Filipino, 19-year-old Alexandra Eala.

Eala, who has trained at Rafael Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca since she was 13, is the first Filipino to defeat a Top 10 player since 1990; the first from her country to defeat a Grand Slam champion (actually her second after downing Jelena Ostapenko on Friday); and the first Filipino to reach a Masters 1000 round of 16.

Keys, 30, in the midst of the best run of her career, carried a 19-2 record into Miami, but she was coming off a blowout 6-0, 6-1 semifinal loss at Indian Wells to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka – who she had beaten in the Aussie final.

Eala, who has trained at Rafael Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca since she was 13, is the first Filipino to defeat a Top 10 player since 1990; the first from her country to defeat a Grand Slam champion (actually her second after downing Jelena Ostapenko on Friday); and the first Filipino to reach a Masters 1000 round of 16.

Article Source: IANS