There could be a battle of the top two Brits at the Miami Open, as Emma Raducanu looks primed to face Sonay Kartal at the Hard Rock Stadium. No. 24 seed Raducanu will be under a lot of pressure in Florida, as she is defending 215 ranking points for reaching the quarter-finals there last year, and she has a tough task on her hands if she wants to make it that far again.

Raducanu has received a bye directly into the second round as one of the top seeds. There, she awaits the winner of a first-round clash between British No. 2 Kartal and American ace Peyton Stearns. Things will only get tougher for Raducanu if she makes it further, with Jessica Pegula and Ekaterina Alexandrova lurking in her section of the draw.

The 23-year-old recently suffered a bruising, 52-minute defeat to Amanda Anisimova in the third round of Indian Wells and will be hoping to regroup in Miami. But it won’t be easy. A potential second-round clash with Kartal would bring back memories for both women, who used to face off in childhood competitions and were just nine years old when they battled at the National Tennis Centre in 2011. This would be their first meeting on the pro tour.

British No. 2 Kartal is in form after reaching the last 16 in Indian Wells, shocking top-20 seeds Emma Navarro and Madison Keys en route. But the Brighton-based star sparked concern when she retired from her fourth-round match against Elena Rybakina, having struggled with a lower back injury since round two.

Meanwhile, world No. 48 Stearns is a familiar opponent for Raducanu. The Brit leads their head-to-head 3-0 and has never even dropped a set against the American. And by getting a bye directly to round two, Raducanu guarantees herself at least 35 ranking points of the 215 she is defending.

Should she reach the third round, Raducanu is projected to face No. 11 seed Alexandrova. She could also meet teenage wildcard Lilli Tagger or a qualifier. Raducanu has a 1-1 record against Alexandrova – she beat the Russian at last year’s Australian Open, but Alexandrova got revenge just a few weeks later in Doha.

No. 5 seed Pegula is lurking as a likely fourth-round opponent. Pegula ended Raducanu’s impressive run in Miami last year. The Brit stormed into her first WTA 1000 quarter-final, upsetting Navarro and Anisimova on her way, but suffered a three-set defeat to the American.

There may well also be a rematch of the famous 2021 US Open final, won by Raducanu, as Leylah Fernandez is also in her section of the draw as a likely fourth-round rival. Looking even further ahead, Raducanu could face the likes of Elena Rybakina, Naomi OsakaNaomi Osaka, or Iva Jovic in the quarters. She’s also in the same half of the draw as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

After her 6-1 6-1 defeat to Anisimova in Indian Wells, Raducanu admitted she had a way to go in order to compete with the world’s best players. And Raducanu may well get the opportunity to test herself against some of those top names in Miami next week.

“When I’m playing someone who’s at the top like that, I think they have an extra 10 miles an hour on their serve than me,” she said. “If I’m not feeling it, that gap feels more evident in terms of weight of shot, in terms of power. You just feel a little bit behind and your punches aren’t landing as much as theirs are. I need to be aggressive when playing those players, but I think there’s still a long way to go to be doing that. I need to use my strengths and probably mix it up a bit more.”