MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Camila Giorgi hit 14 double-faults, blew a 5-0 lead in the final set and needed four match points before finally pulling out a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4) victory against Kaia Kanepi in the first round of the Miami Open on Tuesday.

The match lasted 3 hours, 32 minutes, tying for the longest on the WTA Tour this season. The players combined for 30 aces — 19 by Kanepi, who also had seven double-faults.

In the third set, Kanepi was not moving well, and Giorgi raced to a big edge. But after dropping just two of her initial 15 service games, the Italian got broken twice in a row while serving for the victory at 5-1 and 5-3 in the third set.

Kanepi saved one match point at 5-3, another at 5-4 and another in the concluding tiebreaker. Giorgi finally ended things on her next chance with a cross-court forehand winner. She'll next face 14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka, a three-time champion in Miami and two-time winner at the Australian Open.

Lindsay Brandon is a lawyer whose past clients include athletes disputing doping suspensions. In her new post as the WTA’s first director of safeguarding, Brandon is leading an increased effort to protect athletes from predatory coaches — and others — on the women’s professional tennis tour.

“Safeguarding is about emotional abuse. Physical abuse, as well. And it’s not just coach-athlete,” Brandon said in a telephone interview from the BNP Paribas Open, which wrapped up Sunday in Indian Wells, California, and was the first tournament she visited as part of the job she began 3 1/2 months ago.

“There are other people that are part of this process,” Brandon told The Associated Press. “There can be athlete-to-athlete issues. There can be issue with respect to training staff separate from coaches. Those are just some of the examples.”

Her priorities include managing the WTA security team’s investigations of complaints — she did not reveal how many are currently active — and “monitoring any potential concerns,” along with improving education and creating a safeguarding code of conduct she hopes will be published in 2024.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Top-seed Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz dispatched Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime from the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament Thursday night.

Alcaraz earned a straight-sets 6-4, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Auger-Aliassime. The eighth-seeded Canadian came into the match having won all three of his previous meetings with Alcaraz, including one in Canada's upset win over Spain in the round-robin stage of last year's Davis Cup.

Auger-Aliassime was appearing in the quarterfinals of the Masters-level event for the first time. He advanced with a dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over Tommy Paul on Tuesday, overcoming six match points,

The Canadian fired six aces in the match but double-faulted six times. Alcaraz also has as many aces (two) as double faults.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime overcame six match points to defeat Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in fourth-round action Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open.

Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Masters-level event for the first time.

Elimination looked certain for the Canadian when Paul held for a 6-5 lead in the third set and then had triple break point in the next game.

Auger-Aliassime rallied, however, firing five straight points, including an ace to win the 12th game and send the set to a tiebreaker.