Emma Raducanu claims her first ever win on the Miami Open as she swats apart Japanese wildcard Sayaka Ishi with dominant straight set victory

Emma Raducanu hammered Japanese wildcard Sayaka Ishi 6-2, 6-1 to earn her first ever win at the Miami Open on Thursday.

After a run of six defeats in seven, the unseeded 22-year-old really needed a good draw here and she got it, playing a 19-year-old ranked 188 and playing only her third tour-level event.

Ishi threatened briefly with a few beefy forehands but her game gradually broke down under Raducanu’s steady probing.

‘It hasn’t been easy for me coming into this week so I’m happy and I think I put on a really good performance,’ said the world No 60.

It was as routine a win as could be imagined but there is always some element of intrigue when it comes to Raducanu, and this time it was the absence from her box of new coach Vlado Platenik. Whether the Slovak had a prior engagement this week when he suddenly took on the role in Indian Wells or the three-month trial has ended abruptly is uncertain: we have approached Raducanu’s team for clarification.

Instead there was LTA coach Colin Beecher and Raducanu’s childhood coach and ‘big sister’ figure Jane O’Donoghue who was taking yet more time away from her day job as a city big-shot.

Emma Raducanu claimed her first ever victory at the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium

She defeated Japanese wildcard Sayaka Ishi in straight sets (above) with a dominant display

A far bigger test awaits Raducanu against No 8 seed Emma Navarro (above) in the next round

And O’Donoghue was extremely vocal from the start, early on urging Raducanu to ‘break down that forehand’. That is exactly what she did, although there was an element of it falling apart all by itself. 

Ishi has an unusually long takeback on that stroke which means that, while it landed with a punch when she connected, she was vulnerable to being rushed.

The biggest positive from Raducanu’s end of the court was the serve. She hit six aces and landed 73 per cent of her first serves.

A far bigger test awaits against No 8 seed Emma Navarro. The free points will come far less frequently against a steady and crafty opponent and that match will give us a much better sense of where Raducanu’s game is at.