Emma Raducanu crashes out of the Miami Open in the first round in three-set loss to Bianca Andreescu

Emma Raducanu faced the player with whom she has so much in common last night, but it was her fellow former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu who came out on top.

The 20 year-old from Kent forced plenty of chances, but against someone who was born in the same city – Toronto – she fell 6-3 3-6 6-2 in two hours and 33 minutes, her longest match of the season to date.

The battle of the two former teenage Grand Slam champions was one of undulating quality. At times it was easy to see why they had both triumphed at Flushing Meadows, at others you were left wondering how that ever came to pass.

Andreescu ran off the last four games to win and affirm her 41-place ranking superiority, although the couple of weeks have at least suggested that Raducanu is playing to a better standard than her current listing of 71.

They took to the court at mid-day, walking out to the stadium built within the Miami Dolphins vast NFL Arena. One of the challenges it presents is that when the sun poked through, it casts a difficult shadow across half the court.

Raducanu played her attacking game in the first set, only to find it largely soaked up by Andreescu, who showed why she took down so many good players to win at Flushing Meadows in 2019.

Using her wide variety of angles and spins, she disrupted the rhythm of the British player, who often narrowly missed when going for the lines. The Andreescu first serve was not that consistent, but when it went in she won 90 percent of the points in the opener.

With unforced errors flowing freely Raducanu started to come back into it, but she could not make up the early break of serve which had seen her fall behind 3-0.

Raducanu asserted more pressure from the start of the second and forced a break point at 1-0, which was saved by an excellent body serve. When she forced another at 4-3, with the Canadian on the back foot, Andreescu plucked an ace from her bag.

Andreescu continued to mix up her spins, often throwing in a loopy forehand, to thwart her opponent but the 2021 New York winner was becoming increasingly confident.

The second set finally tilted when Raducanu clinched a seventh break point at 4-3 with a forehand, and she went on to serve it out with a contrasting lack of bother.

The 20 year-old from Kent forced three break points at the start of the third, which followed a lengthy hiatus after both players left the court. That she could not take any of them looked like a turning point, with Andreescu rediscovering some of the better form she had shown in the first set.

The Canadian made her pay for it when she broke for 4-2, and when Raducanu had a chance to recover that immediately she dumped a backhand into the net. There was no way back from that.