Emma Raducanu fought back from the brink to seal her first win against a top-10 opponent in eight months by beating Emma Navarro in three sets at the Miami Open.
Raducanu, world number 60, was a point away from trailing 4-1 in the final set and overcame fatigue to win a titanic struggle 7-6 (8) 2-6 7-6 (3) against eighth-seeded American Navarro.
The British number two’s mammoth victory saw her win against a top-10 player on a hard court for the first time in her career.
Raducanu, who beat Japan’s world number 188 Sayaka Ishii 6-2 6-1 in the opening round, parted company with coach Vlado Platenik after a 14-day trial before the tournament.
But there was no adverse reaction against world number 10 Navarro and Raducanu’s aggression in the closing stages was rewarded.
Raducanu said: “I’m really proud of how I managed to find a third wind. I was absolutely exhausted in the second set and thought my legs were going to stop.
“In the third set I used a lot of emotion. I’ve gone through a lot and told myself I’d been through too much to leave it to her. I just fought every single point.
“I’d say it’s number one (win of the year) because Emma is a top-10. I haven’t beaten one this year, this is my first one. She made me work so hard for every point. I had to fight, scrap and be aggressive.”
Raducanu snatched a high-quality opening set, surviving two set points against her as she fought back from 6-4 down in the tie-break to win it 8-6 and draw first blood.
Navarro, US Open semi-finalist last year, responded in fine style to seal a double break on her way to a 5-2 lead in the second set as a tiring Raducanu lost her intensity.
The American easily served out to take the second set 6-2 in 37 minutes and Raducanu, who had appeared close to cramping up, needed ice on her legs before the decider.
The British number two quickly fell 2-0 down in the deciding set after being broken for the fourth time in the match and looked down and out when trailing 3-1.
But she rediscovered her energy and after staving off two more break points to make it 3-2 instead of 4-1, Raducanu then reeled off four straight games to lead 5-3.
Navarro battled back to force the tie-break but Raducanu continued to go for her shots and clinched victory in just under three hours.
