Last year’s US Open champion Emma Raducanu won the first match of her career at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells with a 6-1 3-6 6-1 win over former world number 4 player Caroline Garcia in 1 hour and 31 minutes.
Raducanu set up a third round match against Petra Martic.
The British 19-year-old player lost to former world number 100 player Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round in her debut at Indian Wells last year following her first Grand Slam title at the US Open. She won just only match this year and was beaten three times during the 2022 season.
Raducanu raced out to a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game of the first set before saving all four break points she faced in the fifth game. The British star earned a double break in the sixth game to close out the first set 6-1.
Raducanu started the second set with an immediate break. Garcia came back by breaking twice in the second and sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Raducanu pulled back on serve at love in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Garcia earned her third break in the eighth game and served out the second set 6-3 after saving a break point in the ninth game.
Raducanu earned an early break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. She got a double break in the sixth game and served out the third set at love.
Raducanu converted four of her seven match points and won 70% of her first service points.
“It was definitely a tough match to win. Caroline is a really tough tricky opponent. Caroline is a really tricky opponent because she is a really aggressive and plays very quickly. As soon as I dropped my ball speed and pace, she took advantage of that in the second set. I am just glad that I managed to adjust for the third set. I feel like today I worked out pretty well that I was taking pace off the ball, I was playing too much to one side or the middle in the second set. I kind of reassessed. In the third set I picked my ball speed back up. I was spreading the play more. I think that’s probably one of my strengths, just working things out as they go along”, said Raducanu.
World number 53 player Allison Riske rallied from one set down to upset two-time Indian Wells quarter finalist Garbine Muguruza 0-6 6-3 6-1 in 1 hour and 33 minutes.
Muguruza won the first nine games of the match to build up a 6-0 3-0 lead. Riske bounced back by winning eight consecutive games to claim the second set 6-3 and earn a break in the second game of the third set to take a 2-0 lead. Muguruza pulled the break back in the third game for 2-1.
Riske saved three game points and broke serve for the second time to take a 3-1 lead with a volley winner. Riske broke at 15 in the sixth game to race out to a 5-1 lead and sealed the win with a backhand winner down the line on match point.
Angelique Kerber, who reached the Indian Wells final in 2019, overcame Chinese teenager Zheng Quinwen 6-2 5-7 6-4 after 2 hours and 18 minutes. Kerber came back from 1-4 down to beat Zheng. The German player will face Daria Kasatkina in the third round.
Kerber saved three break points to hold serve for 2-1 before winning 10 of the last 11 points of the first set to break Zheng twice and claim the opening set 6-2.
Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the seocnd set. Zheng earned her second break in the third game and held serve to take a 3-1 lead. Kerber broke back at love in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. Zheng broke for the third time in the 11th game to seal the second set 7-5.
After an early exchange of breaks in the first two games, Zheng built a 4-1 lead with two breaks in the third and fifth games, but Kerber fought back by winning five consecutive games with three breaks of serve to seal the third set on her fourth match point.
Harriet Dart rallied from one set down to upset Elina Svitolina 2-6 6-3 6-3 in 2 hours and 17 minutes. Dart converted eight of her 21 break points.
The British player will face Estonian 36-year-old veteran Kaia Kanepi, who edged past Belinda Bencic 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 21 minutes. Kanepi has reached her seventh Grand Slam quarter final at last January’s Australian Open.
Bencic earned the first break in the fifth game to take a 4-2 lead. Kanepi won four consecutive games with two breaks to seal the first set 6-4.
Kanepi earned two breaks to open up a 4-0 lead. Bencic pulled one break back in the fifth game, but Kanepi held her final two service games to win the second set 6-3.
Coco Gauff beat Claire Liu 6-1 7-6 (7-4). Liu converted only two of her ten break points and saved 11 of the 15 break points she faced.
Gauff broke twice in the fourth and sixth games to close out the first set 6-1 in just over half an hour. Both players traded breaks twice in the second set. Gauff was not able to convert a match point at 6-5. Liu converted her fifth break point in the 12th game to set up a tie-break. Gauff rallied from 1-3 down before converting the first of her two match points to seal a 88-minute second set when Liu hit a backhand into the net.
Gauff set up a third round match against 2015 Indian Wells champion Simona Halep, who battled past Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2 4-6 6-2 in 1 hour and 47 minutes. Halep now leads 3-2 in her five head-to-head matches against Alexandrova.
Halep went up a double break to take a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Alexandrova pulled a break back in the fourth game, but Halep earned her third break in the eighth game to seal the first set 6-2.
Alexandrova did not drop her serve and broke serve in the 10th game to close out the second set 6-4. Halep raced out to a 4-1 lead in the third set with two breaks in the first and fifth games. Alexandrova clawed one break back in the sixth game, but Halep sealed the win 6-2 to advance to the third round for the ninth game in 11 appearances in her career.
Iga Swiatek rallied from one set down to beat Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 5-7 6-0 6-1. After three trades of break Kalinina won the first set 7-5 with a decisive break in the 11th game. Swiatek broke six times and dropped serve only once in the fifth game of the third set.
Danish 19-year-old Clara Tauson cruised past Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Haddad Maia reached her first Grand Slam final in the women’s doubles at last January’s Australian Open and the semifinals in Monterrey.
Tauson won 82% of her first serve points and broke serve six times setting up a second round match against 2020 Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek.
