MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jessica Pegra stopped a string of confusion at the Miami Open by ending the stubborn run of British unseeded Emmaraducanu on Wednesday night.
Fourth seed Pegra won 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in the two-hour, 25-minute battle that moved to the Miami Open women’s semi-finals for the third time in four years. Pegra, the last American left on the field, faces Philippine teen wildcard Alexandra Eerra on Thursday.
Pegra’s match ended at 11:23pm ET and forced a postponement of the men’s quarterfinals between Novak Djokovic and Sebastian Korda until Thursday.
Radkanu, who won the 2021 US Open, ranked in the 60th world after experiencing multiple coaching changes and injuries.
Pegra won his first set. However, Radukanu flashed her powers by filming the second set, not before she appeared to physically struggle with the high humidity in Miami, which reached 70%.
Radukanu peered into the point and showed signs of overheating and posted five set points on Pegra serve, but was unable to convert. Pegra was then held close to 5-4.
At that point, the chair judge declared a medical timeout, and the healthcare worker ingested Radukanu’s blood pressure and pulse rate. Medical personnel rubbed an ice bag against Radukanu’s feet and placed a cold towel around his neck.
Radkanu breathed life into life and ruled the tiebreaker 7-3.
In the third set, Pegula spins and took an early break at 2-0. At her third breakpoint, Pegura cleared out Radukanu’s short ball and broke Radukanu with Love to finish the match.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.