British Players Eliminated at Miami Open
Cameron Norrie and Katie Boulter, ranked 24th and 67th in the world respectively, were both eliminated in the third round of the Miami Open, ending British singles hopes in Florida.
Norrie, aged 30, was defeated 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 by 21-year-old American Alex Michelsen in his opening match of the tournament. The 23rd seed, who recently took over as British number one from Jack Draper, lost a close first set after Michelsen broke his serve on his sixth set point in the 12th game.
Despite falling behind 3-0 in the second set, Norrie recovered to force a tie-break, which he won to push the match to a deciding third set. However, Michelsen secured a crucial break in the third game of the final set and maintained his serve to advance to the last 16 on home soil.
British number three Katie Boulter, who had reached the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time in over a year, was defeated 6-3, 7-5 by 13th seed Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic. Muchova broke 29-year-old Boulter's serve twice in the first set and managed one more break in the second set to lead 6-5 before closing out the match.
Additionally, British number four Fran Jones also exited the tournament after retiring in the second set of her match against American Jessica Pegula due to illness. Jones, 25, had previously defeated Venus Williams in the first round despite feeling unwell but struggled against Pegula.
Pegula won the first set 6-1, and despite a medical timeout, Jones, who was observed coughing multiple times during the match, decided to retire at 3-0 down in the second set, citing her health.
"I didn't want to lose the opportunity to play Venus, but it's a whole different ball game playing Jess," Jones said.
"You need to be 10 out of 10 to compete against her and I'm probably a four out of 10 today. If I'm not able to give my everything out there, I don't see the point when I'm already battling my general fitness as it is."
