Resurgent Emma Raducanu reminds former British No.1 of Andy Murray after her Miami Open quarterfinals run
Emma Raducanu was defeated by eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula in three sets in the Miami Open quarterfinals.
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Emma Raducanu, Andy Murray (Image via X/Jimmie48 Photography, Wimbledon)
For the first time since her fairytale run at the 2021 US Open, Emma Raducanu was successful in winning four consecutive matches in a WTA tournament. She made it to the quarterfinals of the Miami Open where eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula beat her in three sets.
En route to the quarterfinals, the 22-year-old knocked out Sayaka Ishii, eighth seed Emma Navarro, then received a walkover from McCartney Kessler and beat Amanda Anisimova. Raducanu, however, didn’t have decent campaigns at the start of the season.
She lost in the third round of the Australian Open and lost three consecutive matches on the Middle East Swing, before breaking the streak at the Dubai Open. At Indian Wells too, Raducanu failed to win a match.
Former British No.1 Annabel Croft spoke highly of Raducanu’s campaign, comparing her to three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray. She claimed Raducanu played more impressively in Miami than she did at the US Open.
When Raducanu plays like that it is phenomenal to watch as she barely misses a ball. There were so few unforced errors across her matches in Miami that it reminded me of Andy Murray when he went into that mode in which the opponent had to work so hard to win a point. Mentally it imposes so much pressure on the opponents and you could see this getting into their heads to the point where they could not compete.
Annabel Croft wrote in her column for The Times
Murray retired from tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He then shocked the tennis world by joining longtime rival and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic‘s coaching team.
Patrick Mouratoglou says Emma Raducanu always takes a risk while playing
Serena Williams‘ former Patrick Mouratoglou discussed the importance of mental strength in tennis. The French coach, who now is in the entourage of four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, claimed many talented players fail to achieve success because of their lack of confidence.
While sharing his perspective, the 54-year-old said players are “very fragile machines” and are not “robots“, claiming how massive emotions play a role. He cited Emma Raducanu‘s example of a player who enters a tournament with huge burdens on her shoulders due to expectations.
Then they have the press evaluating them and when you are in a big country like Britain and there is a lot of publicity around tennis, a player like Emma Raducanu takes the risk that people will write or say bad things about you every time you go on court. That is not easy to deal with.
Patrick Mouratoglou told Tennis365
Raducanu’s quarterfinal run at the Miami Open also helped her rankings. The former World No.10 was a World No.60 before the tournament and after the quarterfinals, she reached the top 50 for the first time since September 2022. Raducanu currently stands in the 48th position in the rankings table.
Emma Raducanu will aim to play decent tennis on the clay swing
Following the conclusion of the Miami Open, Emma Raducanu’s focus will shift toward the clay swing. Raducanu had mediocre performances on in clay tournaments last year as she could not win more than two matches in the Stuttgart Open and the Madrid Open.
The Brit skipped the French Open last year. Instead, she prepared for the grass swing and produced decent performances. She reached the semifinals of the Nottingham Open and the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International, before progressing to the fourth round of Wimbledon. Raducanu produced her best performance at Roland Garros when she reached the second round in 2022.
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