Katie Boulter and Dan Evans both picked up wins through tricky conditions at Miami Gardens on day three of the Miami Open.
Boulter is into the third round after Czech Republic’s Brenda Fruhvirtova retired trailing 7-6(5), 1-0.
In the next round, she’ll play Beatriz Haddad Maia, who came back from a set down to defeat France’s Diane Parry.
Meanwhile, Evans got his campaign underway with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over former world No.21 Lorenzo Sonego.
Next up, he’ll face 31st seed Christopher Eubanks.
Coming into a WTA 1000 event as a seeded player for the first time, Boulter went a break down against the 16-year-old twice in the opening set, but came back on both occasions to force a tie-break. The British No.1 used experience to her advantage to see out the set with a huge forehand winner down the line, before the rain began to fall.
Fruhvirtova had been struggling with the heat towards the end of the set and once the rain cleared, it only became worse. After Boulter broke at the start of the second, the Czech star was unable to continue, giving the Briton her opening win in Miami.
Sonego got off to a blistering start against Evans and wrapped up a one set lead in just 30 minutes.
The 33-year-old Brit stayed positive and took his opportunities early in the second. Having raced to a 3-0 lead, all momentum shifted in favour of the British star, who only dropped two points on his first serve throught the whole set.
With the scores level, Evans’ backhand continued to cause Sonego problems and soon gave him the initial break in the decider.
Both players had chances on each other’s serve the rest of the way, but Evans kept his nerve. A laser backhand down the line set up two match points on the Brit’s serve, which he took on the first time of asking.
Andy Murray opened his men’s doubles account with a victory alongside USA’s Seb Korda.
Murray and Korda knocked out fellow Brit Julian Cash and Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 6-4 to set up a clash with seventh seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.
Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram also made a winning start at the Miami Open – beating William Blumberg and Casper Ruud 7-6(5), 6-4.
The 2021 semi-finalists will continue their campaign for a first title in Miami in a tough second round draw against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Thanasi Kokkinakis.