Tennis-Raducanu happy to have found her spark again during Miami run

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(Reuters) – Emma Raducanu said she had rediscovered her competitive spirit at the Miami Open this week after the Briton won four WTA main draw matches in succession for the first time since her U.S. Open triumph in 2021.

Raducanu has struggled with form and fitness issues since her only Grand Slam triumph as a teenager and has worked with a string of different coaches without much success, Vladimir Platenik the latest to leave her team last week after 14 days.

After reaching the third round of this year’s Australian Open, Raducanu lost five out of her next six matches but has hit her stride in Miami, easing to a 6-1 6-3 fourth-round win over former French Open semi-finalist Amanda Anisimova on Monday.

“Circumstances change all the time, but for me the biggest thing I’m proud of is finding the competitive spirit and being there for every ball and drawing that out of myself,” the 22-year-old told reporters after making her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.

“I think that’s been missing in the last few months and even few years at times.

“That’s the biggest win for me, feeling a lot of hunger, feeling on the court competitive, wanting to run down every ball, and that’s the biggest win I from this week.”

Raducanu, who is being helped by coach Mark Petchey in Miami, next plays fourth seed Jessica Pegula.

“I feel like in my environment, in my surroundings with the people I’m with, pretty relaxed, and I can be myself and expressive and true to myself. That’s important,” she added.

“I’m really happy with how things are on and off the court right now and just also happy that I was able to transfer on to the court.”

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)