Emma Raducanu's eye-catching Miami Open came to an end in the quarter-finals as the former US Open champion lost a three-set thriller to home favourite Jessica Pegula.
Competing in her first-ever WTA 1000 quarter-final thanks to earlier triumphs over Sayaka Ishii, Emma Navarro, Amanda Anisimova and McCartney Kessler, Raducanu edged Pegula in a close second-set tie-breaker to take the encounter to the distance.
However, the 22-year-old ran out of steam in the final set as Pegula secured a 6-4 6-7[3] 6-2 victory in two hours and 25 minutes, thereby completing her revenge mission over the world number 60.
Raducanu enjoyed one of her most memorable wins of 2024 over Pegula, defeating the world number four in the last 16 of the Eastbourne International in three sets, but wasted opportunities came back to bite her on this occasion.
The former Grand Slam champion only managed to convert one of the six break points she fashioned against Pegula, who will now meet Filipino wild card Alexandra Eala following the teenager's shock win over world number two Iga Swiatek.
Pegula coincidentally joined Swiatek in an exclusive club thanks to her triumph over Raducanu, becoming just the third player after the Pole and Aryna Sabalenka to reach at least 10 WTA 1000 semi-finals since 2020.
How Pegula ended Raducanu's Miami Open journey
© Imago
Neither player managed to gain the upper hand until the fifth game of the second set, where Pegula brought up two break points on the Raducanu serve and converted her second for a 3-2 advantage, one that she did not relinquish for the remainder of the set.
The American put away her third set point but missed a chance to break Raducanu right at the start of the second, where the Briton packed a more venomous punch and took her first break point of the match to move 3-1 ahead.
However, Raducanu subsequently missed several chances to wrap up the set in the eighth game, squandering four set points on the Pegula serve before the American crucially broke back for 4-5.
The momentum further appeared to be in the American's favour when she earned the first mini-break of the tie-breaker, but a reborn Raducanu dropped just one of the next eight points to force a deciding set, albeit one that quickly got away from her.
Pegula roared into a 3-0 lead - saving another break point in the third game - and was subsequently untroubled on serve before sealing her place in the semi-finals in style, with a break to love.
While Raducanu could not repeat her Eastbourne trick over Pegula, the Briton leaves Miami having rediscovered her joy for the game without a permanent coach, no doubt raising expectations among fans ahead of the grass-court season.
Ben Knapton
