France’s Elsa Jacquemot opened the Miami Open in dramatic fashion as she took three hours and 15 minutes to defeat Darja Vidmanova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Jacquemot committed a whopping 17 double faults yet stayed in the match by breaking Vidmanova’s serve eight times in 14 chances. Jacquemot won 52 of 77 first-service points (67.5%) as she finished with 121 total points to Vidmanova’s 117 in a match decided by razor-thin margins.
Jacquemot broke Vidmanova twice in the third set, the second time putting her ahead 6-5. Vidmanova saved Jacquemot’s first match point, bringing the 12th game to deuce, but Jacquemot quickly scored two points in a row to end the marathon.
Jacquemot’s reward will be to face Czech 32nd seed Marie Bouzkova in the second round.
The first American to win a match in this year’s event was McCartney Kessler, who also needed three sets to get the job done. She rallied past Poland’s Magdalena Frech 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Kessler, who reached the third round in Miami last year, won 36 of 51 first-service points (70.6%) but also capitalized in a major way on Frech’s service mistakes. On Frech’s second serves, Kessler won 16 of the 25 points (64%).
Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Switzerland’s Simona Waltert and advanced to face No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova.
Anisimova, whose family moved to Florida when she was young, said Tuesday she spent entire days attending the Miami Open as a girl and had no thought of being one of the world’s elite players someday.
“I was a fan,” Anisimova said. “Obviously I played a lot, and I competed, but the dream was just so far (away), and I was just a kid as well. Maybe some kids dream that one day they’ll be there, but I think that it just didn’t seem realistic to me as a child.”
In other first-round results, Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated Shuai Zhang of China 6-3, 6-4; Germany’s Laura Siegemund beat Croatia’s Petra Marcinko 6-4, 6-4; Katie Boulter of Great Britain prevailed 7-6 (9), 6-4 over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro; and Poland’s Magda Linette powered past France’s Varvara Gracheva 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Three matches were left Tuesday night, including American Sofia Kenin against Russia’s Anna Blinkova.
–Field Level Media
