Preview: Miami Open: Emma Raducanu vs. Jessica Pegula – prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far.
Emma Raducanu’s reward for reaching her maiden WTA 1000 quarter-final at the Miami Open is a match against world No. 4 Jessica Pegula on Tuesday.
The Briton has defeated American players in three consecutive rounds and aims for a fourth victory to oust the fourth seed, achieving as many wins in a row for only the second time in her career.
Raducanu appears to be finding her form in Florida, having triumphed over three-set specialist Emma Navarro in the second round before following that up by losing only five games across her next two matches against McCartney Kessler and Amanda Anisimova.
Although the world No. 60 benefitted from Kessler’s withdrawal due to a back injury on Sunday, Raducanu’s ability to make Anisimova play an extra shot, combined with the American’s propensity for errors, meant that the 2021 US Open champion had the advantage should the Doha champion falter.
The outcome of defeating Anisimova in just 68 minutes signifies that Raducanu has secured four consecutive wins for only the second time, the first being her successful run to the US Open title four years ago.
Having already matched Johanna Konta as the first British player to reach a quarter-final at a WTA 1000 tournament, Raducanu now seeks her second top-10 victory in Miami and her fourth overall to progress to the tournament’s semi-final.
The prospect of such an achievement seemed unlikely before the 22-year-old’s tournament opener against Sayaka Ishii a week ago, when she entered Florida with merely one win in seven matches.
Now, the former world No. 10 is just one win away from advancing to the event’s final four.
On the opposite side of the court is Pegula, who hopes to avoid becoming the fourth home player to succumb to the British star’s relentless pursuit of every ball.
If the 31-year-old progresses to the semis in Florida, she will recall her third-round comeback victory over Anna Kalinskaya, in which she secured a 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-6(2) result over two hours and 16 minutes.
Another deciding set seemed likely on Monday when the fourth seed found herself 3-0 down in the second against Marta Kostyuk; however, the American rallied to win the next six games, ultimately securing a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the Ukrainian player.
Now into her fourth consecutive semi-final at this Florida-based event, having reached the semis in 2022 and 2023, Pegula hopes to avoid a repeat of last year’s disappointment, where she fell to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The American No. 2 and recent champion in Austin, now with a season record of 18-5, aims for her third last-four appearance by defeating Raducanu and earning another chance to vie for the WTA 1000 tournament’s championship match after losses to Iga Swiatek in the 2022 semi-final and Elena Rybakina a year later.