Aiming to avoid a shock first-round exit at the Miami Open, Emma Raducanu faces teenager Sayaka Ishii on Wednesday, eager to move on from the events at the BNP Paribas Open.
The British player was eliminated by Moyuka Uchijima at Indian Wells, and the one-time Grand Slam champion hopes to avoid a repeat against her Japanese counterpart in Florida.
Match preview
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For Ishii, this week presents an opportunity for the 19-year-old to achieve significant wins on the WTA Tour.
Although injuries and disappointing results have rendered Raducanu a less formidable competitor, the British player remains a star attraction wherever she competes, and a victory over the 2021 US Open winner would undoubtedly be a notable achievement.
While this week marks Ishii's debut at the Miami Open in round one, her participation in last year's WTA 500 event in Tokyo, where she notched her first tour-level wins over Sara Saito and Zeynep Sonmez to reach her maiden quarter-final, equips her with valuable experience ahead of her 1000 debut.
Having received a wild card for this year's Miami event, securing victory over a former Grand Slam champion for a first WTA 1000 win would delight the world No. 188.
That outcome is certainly within reach, given Raducanu's struggles to string victories together, including another setback a fortnight ago in California.
While the British player's mental state heading into the third WTA 1000 event of 2025 was uncertain following incidents in Dubai, where a supporter exhibited "fixated behaviour," the 22-year-old will hope to put that situation behind her and bounce back from the Uchijima defeat.
That tournament-opening loss marked Raducanu's sixth in her last seven matches, with her only success being a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Maria Sakkari in Dubai.
Having competed commendably in her second-round elimination against Karolina Muchova, the young Brit was expected to see off Uchijima and build momentum for the Sunshine Double.
However, the straight-set exit means that the one-time Slam champion enters the Miami event with a record of 3-6 for the season and has not achieved consecutive victories this season since triumphing over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open.
Having failed to secure a win in her two previous appearances in 2022 and 2023, losing to Katerina Siniakova and Bianca Andreescu in three-setters, Raducanu aims to be third-time lucky against the Japanese debutant.
Head To Head
Both players will meet for the first time on the women's tour, with Ishii hoping to upset her out-of-form opponent.
Raducanu, who has never won in Miami across two attempts, currently holds a record of 3-6 as she heads into her tournament opener at the fourth WTA 1000 event of 2025, seeking her fourth win of the season.
Defeating Clara Tauson (then No. 53) in qualifying for Tokyo last year marked Ishii's first top-100 victory, and the teenager aims for a second by toppling the 2021 US Open champion.
We say: Raducanu to win in two sets
Despite the concerns regarding Raducanu's mental state before Indian Wells — the British player contemplated withdrawing from the tournament — her loss to Uchijima was a setback for the former Slam champion.
Hoping to have moved past that disappointment, we back the Brit, who showed some on-court improvement before California, to avoid consecutive losses to Japanese players and set up a second-round meeting with Emma Navarro.
