Emma Raducanu receives main draw wildcard into Miami Open

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• WTA Tennis

Emma Raducanu and Dominic Thiem have been awarded main draw wildcards into Miami. Raducanu, 20, is set to make her second Miami appearance. Last year, Raducanu was a seeded player in Miami and she had a first-round bye before losing to Katerina Siniakova in her opener at the tournament.

On the other side, 29-year-old Thiem is set to make his sixth appearance in Miami. Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, hasn't played in Miami since 2019. Thiem's best Miami result came in 2015, when he made the quarterfinal before losing to Andy Murray.

Miami boss James Blake thrilled to have Raducanu, Thiem

Blake, a former top-10 player, is excited about welcoming 2021 US Open champion Raducanu to the Miami Open. “Raducanu is such an incredible story what she did at the US Open, taking the world by storm like we hadn’t seen since Maria Sharapova winning Wimbledon at such a young age and becoming a media phenomenon.

It’s been a bit of a struggle since then, but realistically for her age, she’s getting better, and just happened to have one of her greatest performances at one of the biggest events on the calendar. She’s continuing to make progress.

We’re happy she’ll be in Miami. With the success she’s had on hard courts, hopefully she’ll feel comfortable here," Blake told The Miami Herald. Also, Blake is looking forward to seeing Thiem again in Miami as he deeply respects the Austrian's game.

“He’s a guy that was talked about the second favorite after Rafa (Nadal) on clay, but he ran into Rafa and he’s the greatest clay court player of all time. He’s not a huge guy in stature, but his game is big.

Big serve, big forehand and one of the most beautiful backhands in the game. If it were not for Rafa, Dominic would have added a few French Open titles to his resume," Blake said of Thiem.