In the final match of Thursday night at the Miami Open 2026, the eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva defeated McCartney Kessler 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-1 to reach the third round.
The Russian young sensation only took 21 minutes to seal the opening set of the match against the University of Florida product Kessler. However, in the secod set, the match got instense as the American pushed the 18-year-old to three sets.
Andreeva who was coming on the back of a heartbreaking end to her campaign at the Indian found her form back again and repeated the same dominance to in the third set to close out the match.
“I’m kind of learning from my mistakes, I guess,” Andreeva said in her post match interview. “So I’m just super happy to win this match, super happy to get the win tonight…this morning. She’s an amazing player, a very dangerous opponent, so I’m just super happy to get revenge against her and to advance further in the tournament.”
On the other hand, in first-round action, Venus Williams fell to 0-6 on the season when she lost to Great Britain’s Francesca Jones 7-5, 7-5. The 45-year-old former World No.1 has lost nine matches in a row since earning a first-round win at Washington last summer.
The biggest upset of the night, however, came when Iga Swiatek lost to World No.50 Magda Linette in an all-Polish clash. The second seed went down 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, ending her 74-match streak of winning opening matches. With this victory, Linette also leveled their head-to-head record at 1-1.
Meanwhile, Sloane Stephens downed Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-2 in an all-U.S. matchup. Other players from the host nation Taylor Townsend, Caty McNally, Hailey Baptiste, Ann Li, Peyton Stearns and Alycia Parks also advanced, while Ashlyn Krueger and Katie Volynets lost their respective matches.
U.S. qualifier Elvina Kalieva eked out a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) victory over Hungary’s Dalma Galfi.
Also moving into the second round were Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and Yuliia Starodubtseva, Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, Russia’s Anastasia Zakharova and Oksana Selekhmeteva, Austria’s Lilli Tagger, Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, the Czech Republic’s Tereza Valentova, Spain’s Paula Badosa and Australia’s Talia Gibson and Emerson Jones.
(With Reuters Input)
