Elsa Jacquemot pulls out narrow three-setter to kick off Miami Open

Field Level Media|published: Tue 17th March, 20:56 2026

Jan 18, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Elsa Jacquemot of France in action against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the first round of the women’s singles at the Australian Open at ANZ Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images

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

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