Blow for British as Raducanu, Murray crash out in Miami

Canada's Bianca Andreescu won a first-round battle of former US Open champions, defeating Britain's Emma Raducanu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the Miami Open.

There was further bad news for Britain with two-time Miami winner Andy Murray crashing out in the first round after a 6-4 7-5 loss to Serbia's Dusan Lajovic.

Andreescu and Raducanu, both born near Toronto and both of whom won the US Open as teenagers, battled for 2.5 hours in an entertaining opening to the WTA and ATP combined tournament's main draw.

Andreescu, ranked 31st in the world, struck the ball with confidence and freedom as she dominated the first set, but Raducanu regrouped and fought back in the second.

The 2021 US Open winner went 5-3 up in the set after an epic game which she secured with her seventh break point and went on to force a third set.

But Andreescu's power proved to be too much for the tiring Raducanu, who had shown promising signs of an upturn in form by reaching the last 16 at Indian Wells.