MIAMI GARDENS, MARCH 22: Britain's Emma Raducanu won an epic battle over eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro at the Miami Open on Friday and said the win meant even more than some of her victories in her famous run to the 2021 US Open title.
The 21-year-old, who became an instant sensation when she won at Flushing Meadows has had plenty of ups and downs in her career since but in a marathon two-hour 53-minute contest she answered any doubts about her grit with a 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) win.
"Today I completely left everything on the court. I think there were moments in the third set I thought I was completely down, completely out. I didn't see a way back from it, to be honest, physically," she said.
"But then I managed to, I don't know where, find a source of energy from and I think I was running on adrenaline...I'm really proud of how I fought," she added.
In the third set, Raducanu was broken for 5-4 and then broke back against Navarro, who was serving out at 6-5, she was able to find an extra push to win the tie-break.
Raducanu is now down at 60th in the world after spells of injury and disappointing results but she said the feeling compared, in some ways, to her US Open victory.
"It was a lot of emotions when I won. I know I won the US Open, but I think having been through so much in the last few years, it's like the wins now mean so much more," she said.
"Not necessarily more in terms of magnitude, but I would say emotionally, just a lot more aware of all of the suffering as well, because, you know, when I won the US Open, I just won 10 matches in straight sets. I didn't have, like, the losses, the downs, the months of, like, losing streaks. �"AFP
