MIAMI, FL, USA - American wildcard Amanda Anisimova was back to her winning ways at the Miami Open, taking down Wang Qiang in three sets to start her campaign in Key Biscayne.
Anisimova is fresh off of an impressive showing at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she made waves after posting victories over No.23 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No.9 seed Petra Kvitova before falling in the round of 16. Her opponent Wang, ranked 77 spots higher at World No.53, is also coming off of a career-best round of 16 result at Indian Wells.
Read more: California Dreamin': Anisimova makes her mark in Indian Wells
At 16 years old Anisimova is the second-youngest player in the Miami Open draw, but the teenager played well above her years to weather a second-set letdown against Wang, winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
Anisimova kept the Chinese player under pressure throughout the opening set, bringing up eight break opportunities before grabbing the lone break at 4-2. But in the second set, she found herself in trouble as Wang came roaring back, reeling off five games in a row to post back-to-back breaks and level the match.
But Anisimova stayed calm and righted the ship in the third, bracketing the set with a break at 2-0 and another at 6-2, fending off Wang and closing out the match after an hour and 50 minutes.
Up next, the 16-year-old will take on World No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round as she seeks the biggest victory of her career.
