Amanda Anisimova snapped Mirra Andreeva's 13-match winning streak with a gripping 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3 victory in the third round of the Miami Open on Sunday night.
In a showdown between two of this season’s top players, No. 17 seed Amanda Anisimova outlasted World No. 6 Mirra Andreeva in a grueling 2-hour, 49-minute battle. The win marked the 10th Top 10 victory of her career.
Miami: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Here are some key takeaways:
WTA 1000 champion showdown: The third-round encounter was a matchup between the only two players who have won WTA 1000 titles this season. Anisimova was an unseeded titlist at this year's first WTA 1000 event, the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha.
After that, it was Andreeva who dominated the next two WTA 1000 events, winning Dubai and Indian Wells back-to-back. The 17-year-old was eyeing a shot at becoming the first teenager to ever pull off the Sunshine Double.
But it was Anisimova who found enough patches of her Doha form to keep surging Andreeva at bay in Miami. Currently ranked a career-high No. 17, the 23-year-old Floridian is now into the Round of 16 at her local event for the very first time in her career.
Key break points saved: Sunday's match was a back-and-forth affair from the opening minute. Andreeva served for the first set at 5-4, but she was broken at love and Anisimova eventually took it in the tiebreak. However, Andreeva stormed back to dominate the second set.
In the third set, Andreeva had two break points to take an early 2-0 lead, but that's where Anisimova's aggressive play took over, slamming a strong serve and a winning overhead to erase those opportunities and hold on for 1-1.
That paid dividends in the following game, where Anisimova blasted to 0-40 and eventually broke for 2-1 -- which proved to be the decisive break of the final set.
Andreeva held two more break points in Anisimova's very next service game, but once again, Anisimova deployed two of her most thunderous shots to fend those off -- a backhand crosscourt winner and a forehand winner, respectively -- and she moved to the win from there.
Both players broke serve four times in the match, but Anisimova had a stronger break point conversion rate overall (4-for-9 compared to Andreeva's 4-for-16), and the American peaked by powerfully swatting away all four break points she faced in the final set.
Raducanu awaits: Anisimova will now take on a resurgent Emma Raducanu for a spot in the quarterfinals. The 2021 US Open champion Raducanu advanced past an injured McCartney Kessler in their third-round match.
Raducanu, a former World No. 10, is on a roll in Miami, including a strong win over Emma Navarro in the second round. This week marks the first time Raducanu has won three consecutive matches at a Hologic WTA Tour or Grand Slam event since last year's Wimbledon.
Emma Raducanu and Amanda Anisimova first met earlier this year at the Australian Open, where Raducanu scored a 6-3, 7-5 win in the second round.
