Raducanu says that Miami wins on Navarro that has brought that open feeling

Miami-er were tears in Emma Raducanus eyes after her 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (3) victory over No. 10-ranged Emma Navarro on Friday.

And although the CV says that the US Open Title of 2021 is its lifelong achievement, Raducanu then said that this debilitating, almost three-hour competition on the Miami Open was probably the most satisfying.

Yes, they were many emotions when I won, Raducanu told reporters in a press conference after the game. I know I have won the US open, but I think I have experienced so much in recent years, it is as if the victories now mean so much more.

In some ways it came too fast to our open victory and was almost too easy. In less than three weeks, Raducanu won a total of 10 games and was the first qualification of both sexes that the US Open won. She was 18.

That ended up a nourishing frenzy with sponsors who wanted this boisterous new personality from Great Britain to represent their high-end products. Raducanu signed deals with a value of tens of millions of dollars, but that only increased the pressure created by her amazing performance.

Her Pif WTA ranking list cracked the top 10 in the summer of 2022, but a wild series of debilitating injuries followed. At one point in 2023, Raducanu missed eight weeks after operations on both wrists and a single. At the end of the year her ranking had fallen to No. 285.

Her coaching situation became unstable; Shes broke up with eight since winning in New York.

But after winning a first-set tiebreak and seeing Navarro fighting back, Raducanu, now 22, thought something in himself. Given the kind of player that has become Navarro, this was remarkable.

Back to last year, nobody played more matches of three set (35) and won more (24) than Navarro. She likes a good, long fight. The 23-year-old American had won six of the seven games this year that were the distance. And then Raducanu, with a self -confidence reminiscent of 2021, closed the door.

She was aware of Navarros third set of bravery.

I think I knew that would go inside, Raducanu said. So I knew I should win every point. It was very difficult because I served for it at 5-3, and then Emma also played great tennis. On the other hand, I was Love-30 on her serve at 5-4, and she played almost as four incredible points.

Today I left everything on the field. I think there were moments in the third set, I thought I was completely down, completely gone. I have not seen a way back, to be honest, physically. But then I succeeded in finding, I don't know where, a source of energy from, and I think I was walking on adrenaline.

There were patches in the game, Raducanu said, where she played too defensively. In the big moments in the third set and the last tiebreak, she made the decision to go for it.

I was actually just, such as: 'When I go out, I will not play her – at least I put everything on it. I know that I am most successful when I take the photos early and really go for it. It's just a better feeling in a way not to regret.

Even when I went for it and missed certain drive -volleys, for example, at great moments a very long, as frustrating as it is, I knew I was doing the right one.

This was a complete Emma Fest: the first time that two players with the same name, the statisticians tell us, opposite each other at the Miami open since … well, we are going to guess:

Jessica Pegula, who played the next game in the stands, looked at a part of the game and said she was happy for Raducanu.

When she plays at a top level, she belongs to the top players, Pegula said. I just think she struggled a bit with injuries, finding consistency. It is difficult nowadays, the depth is as good as you cannot really go into those competitions and play a lot and get those victories under your belt, it can be very difficult to maintain that trust.

I can understand why she was probably a bit emotional. Winning two games on a WTA 1000 and defeated a top 10 player – that is huge. Sometimes a physical and mental struggle is needed to endure that. And at that moment you think: 'My God, how am I going to do this? Not again? For her to return to the third and to win the tiebreak. I'm sure she's feeling that there is a monkey from her back.

This was Raducanus First Career Match-Win on Hard Court against a top 10 opponent and only her third ever.

I would say no longer in terms of [the US Open] Size, but I would say emotionally, just much more aware of all suffering, Raducanu said. Because, you know, when I won the US Open, I just won 10 games in straight sets.

I mean, I didn't have, like the losses, the downs, the months of losing stripes. I think I have to come out now, yes.