Qualifier Hailey Baptiste is making the most of her time in Miami. The world No. 239 needed, who needed a wild card just to gain entry into the event's qualifying draw, secured her spot in the WTA 1000 main-draw event on Monday for the first time in her young career.

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The American defeated qualifying's top seed Misaki Doi in her opening round, before posting a pretty solid 6-3, 6-4 score over 16th seed Greet Minnen.

Baptiste is fresh off a solid semifinal run at Boca Raton's 25k event. She defeated Varvara Flink, Robin Montgomery and Tereza Mrdeza at the Florida tournament.

Now, she will have another great opportunity when she faces world No. 149 Kristina Kucova for a spot in the second round.

Quick Facts:

2019

Baptiste claimed her last ITF tournament in 2019 at Tuscon, Arizona's 25k event

236

Current ranking

3

Total number of ITF events claimed