MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Former US Open champions emma raducanu and sloane stephens were knocked out of the Miami Open on Wednesday, hours after the defending champion and No. 1 ranked Iga Swiatek he withdrew from the tournament due to a rib injury.
bianca andreescu — the 2019 US Open champion — defeated Raducanu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Andreescu improved to 2-0 lifetime against Raducanu, the 2021 winner at Flushing Meadows.
“Miami has a special place in my heart,” Andreescu said. “I’ve been coming here since I was, I think, 12 years old, whether it’s vacation or training or, yeah, Orange Bowl. I love that tournament so much. Yeah, coming back here, I think it’s just overall good vibes.”
Andreescu moves on to face the tenth-ranked Maria Sakkariwho had a bye in the first round.
shelby rogers he beat Stephens 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Stephens has six hard-court titles, including the US Open in 2017 and Miami in 2018.
Rogers will face the Australian Open champion and world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Rogers in the second round at Melbourne Park. Sabalenka is coming off a final loss in Indian Wells, California, last week.
On the men’s side, dusan lajovic beat the three-time Grand Slam champion andy murray 6-4, 7-5.
“I served pretty well, but the rest of the game was a bit problematic today,” said the 35-year-old Murray. “I made a number of mistakes that I obviously didn’t expect to make. I didn’t really feel like I moved particularly well, which is very important to me.”
Lajovic, a 32-year-old Serb, will face max cressywho had a bye in the first round.
Swiatek withdrew due to a rib injury that he hopes will heal during a break from competition. The 21-year-old Pole will also miss her country’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifying matches against Kazakhstan on April 13-14.
“I wanted to wait until the last minute” to decide whether to play in Miami, Swiatek said at a news conference at the site of the hard-court tournament that began Tuesday. “We were checking if this is the type of injury you can still play with or if it’s kind when things can get worse. So I think the smart thing to do for me is to withdraw from this tournament because I want to rest and take care of it properly.”
In another action, the 24-year-old American jj wolf defeated Alejandro Bublik 7-5, 6-3. He will face No. 7 ranked andrei rublevwho had a bye in the first round.
gael monfils withdrew from his match against ugo humbert due to a persistent wrist injury.
