Miami Open: Birrell saves match point to beat Potapova in first round

Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell edged out Russian Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to move into the second round of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday.

Potapova had a match point when she served for the match at 5-3 in the third but couldn’t take it and Birrell held her nerve in the deciding tiebreak.

Birrell, ranked No 68, will play No 23 seed Marta Kostyuk next.

Miami WTA 1000, other first-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Mayar Sherif vs. Lulu Sun
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Belinda Bencic
• Katie Boulter vs. Peyton Stearns
• Tyra Caterina Grant vs. Julia Grabher
• Alexandra Eala vs. Katie Volynets
• Suzan Lamens vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Caroline Garcia vs. Anna Bondar
• Erika Andreeva vs. Elina Avanesyan: wednesday
• Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Bernarda Pera: wednesday
• McCartney Kessler vs. Marie Bouzkova: wednesday
• Emma Raducanu beat Sayaka Ishii (WC): 6-2, 6-1
• Veronika Kudermetova beat Xinyu Wang: 6-2, 7-6 (5)
• Camila Osorio vs. Victoria Mboko: wednesday
• Anna Blinkova beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Taylor Townsend (Q) beat Ann Li: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Ashlyn Krueger beat Renata Zarazua: 6-3, 6-2
• Hailey Baptiste (WC) beat Olga Danilovic: 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1
• Rebeka Masarova (Q) beat Greet Minnen (Q): 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5
• Sofia Kenin beat Petra Kvitova (WC): 6-4, 7-5
• Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q) beat Polina Kudermetova: 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-2
• Lauren Davis beat Aoi Ito (Q): 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
• Linda Fruhvirtova (Q) beat Claire Liu (Q): 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
• Rebecca Sramkova beat Lucrezia Stefanini (Q): 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
• Naomi Osaka beat Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q): 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Sorana Cirstea beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto: 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Lucia Bronzetti beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 6-4, 6-3
• Katerina Siniakova beat Yue Yuan: 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
• Magda Linette beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Alycia Parks beat Varvara Gracheva: 3-6, 7-6, 6-3
• Viktoriya Tomova beat Catherine McNally: 6-3, 2-6, 6-3