American Jessica Pegula, the No 4 seed, advanced to the last four of the Miami Open by defeating Emma Raducanu 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 at the Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday night.
The pair battled for two hours and 25 minutes in what was an incredible high-quality affair, with 78 winners struck between the two players to just 45 unforced errors.
With the win, Pegula becomes just the third woman since 2020 to make 11 or more WTA 1000 semi-finals, with the other two being the top two players in the world, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.
She also returns to the last four in Miami for the third time in four years, a mark she is determined to move past this time:
“It’s my third semi-final, so I’m hoping third time lucky,” she declared on-court, with the clock showing close to midnight. “I really want to get to that final so bad.”
Brilliant tennis brings up-and-down match
Pegula’s best tennis came in the first and third sets, while Raducanu was solid throughout but had near-untouchable periods in the second set.
The American moved through the opening set cleanly, facing no break points and breaking Raducanu in the fifth game.
In the second, however, Raducanu raced out to a 5-2 lead after breaking Pegula in the fourth game. The Brit was playing lights-out tennis, and gained herself an opportunity to break for a second time to take the set. Game eight turned into an arm-wrestle, with Pegula saving four set points and holding on to her serve for 5-3.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 27, 2025Emma Raducanu is having her vitals checked by the doctor during her match against Pegula in Miami
Possibly the humidity bothering her.
She was playing incredible tennis & was up 5-2 against Pegula in the 2nd set. Now 5-4…
Hopefully it’s not too serious. ❤️🩹 pic.twitter.com/ifGTAlqVLM
In the next game, she would break back, before levelling the set with a hold of serve. Suddenly, the untouchable Raducanu was looking fatigued, with a medical timeout at the change of ends and a very concerned looking doctor.
Still, she managed to stop the rot and force a tiebreak. With the chips down, Raducanu’s forehand fired back into gear and she played a brilliant breaker, racing past Pegula 7-3 to send the match to a decider – and Djokovic v Korda to Thursday’s schedule.
can never count her out 🙅♀️@EmmaRaducanu strikes back 7-6(3) to force a decider against Pegula!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/u9hHrN6VIS
— wta (@WTA) March 27, 2025
While Raducanu appeared to recover from her physical issues and played excellent tennis in the third, Pegula raised her own game by several levels as well.
The American blazed an incredible 16 winners to just one unforced error in the decider, breaking Raducanu for 3-0 then again when the Brit was serving to stay in it at 5-2 down.
“It was tough,” Pegula confessed after the match.
“I just wanted to come out in the third set really strong, really quick, didn’t want to keep that third set too close.”
Pegula will play Filipino wildcard Alexandra Eala next, with the match scheduled for last in the night session on Thursday.
The American won against qualifier Bernarda Pera (6-4, 6-4), Russian Anna Kalinskaya, the No 32 seed (6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6 (2)) and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 23 seed (6-2, 6-3) ahead of her victory.
In the previous rounds of the Miami tournament, Raducanu, ranked No 60, won against Japanese wildcard Sayaka Ishii (6-2, 6-1), American Emma Navarro, the No 8 seed (7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (3)), American McCartney Kessler (6-1, 3-0 ret.) and American Amanda Anisimova, the No 17 seed (6-1, 6-3).
Miami WTA 1000, other last eight results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):
- Alexandra Eala beat Iga Swiatek (2): 6-2, 7-5
- Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Qinwen Zheng (9): 6-2, 7-5
- Jasmine Paolini (6) beat Magda Linette: 6-3, 6-2
