Raducanu earns victory over Masarova to reach Indian Wells second round

Emma Raducanu reached the second round at WTA Indian Wells with a 6-2 6-3 victory against Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova.

The British star, who is currently world No. 250, roared into a 3-0 double-break lead as the match got underway.

It looked as if it was going to be a straightforward win for the 21-year-old, but Masarova then won two games on the bounce.

Raducanu wrestled back the advantage and regained a three-game lead, before taking the set after saving four break points.

The second set played out in a similar fashion, with Raducanu again starting strongly by winning three games in a row.

She again let Masarova back into the contest, and the Spaniard continued to make it difficult even as Raducanu took a 5-3 lead.

The marathon final game comprised 17 points, with Raducanu finally triumphing on her fourth match point.

It was Raducanu’s fourth victory since she returned from an eight-month injury absence.

She impressed at Indian Wells last year, not too long before undergoing surgery on both wrists and her ankle.

Her run to the fourth round at the WTA 1000 tournament was deemed to have been her best performance since her historic victory at the US Open in 2021, when she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam.

Raducanu will now come up against 2024 Australian Open semi-finalist and world No. 31 Dayana Yastremska, who, as a seeded player, enters Indian Wells in the second round.

The pair have only met once before, in the first round of the 2022 Slovenia Open. Raducanu was the victor after Yastremska was forced to retire with a wrist injury while trailing 6-2 5-3.

After serving eight double-faults during her encounter against Masarova, Raducanu will likely be focusing on improving her serve before the second round.

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Osaka grateful to ‘super friendly’ Murray for ‘always checking’ on her

Naomi Osaka says she is grateful to Andy Murray for “always checking” on her, especially when “all the hard stuff happens”.

Osaka is back on tour this season after giving birth to daughter Shai last July.

Ahead of returning to Indian Wells this week, where she is playing for just the second time since 2019, Osaka said Murray has always looked out for her.

“He’s always been super friendly to me coming up on the tour,” said Osaka.

“Whenever we bumped into each other, he’d say ‘hi’ because obviously, I am too shy to say ‘hi’.

“But I feel like he’s in a way always checking on me, like especially when all the hard stuff happens.”

He was asked afterwards whether he sees himself as a mentor to younger players.

“Not necessarily, I just know when I started on the tour, you’re obviously unbelievably excited to be playing on the tour but the locker room is a bit of a scary place,” he told Tennis Channel.

“You don’t know any of the players and it can be a little bit intimidating at times.

“I remember the players that were really nice to me when I first came on tour and how much that meant to me, and I remember the ones that weren’t [nice] as well, and that was tough as well when you are a young kid growing up and you have idols of yours who you watched on TV who are being pretty horrible to you, that’s not easy.

“If any of the players are going through tricky times I would always wish them well and hope they are doing better.”

Murray followed up by saying which players had been nice to him when he first started out.

“Jonas Bjorkman, he ended up coaching me for a while, I always remember him being nice. Tim Henman was very nice as well.

“[Andre] Agassi, who was my favourite player when I was growing up. I got to practice with him a few times.

“Brad Gilbert was coaching me at the beginning of my career… went out for dinner with him [Andre Agassi] a couple of times, he was always really nice.

“The vast majority of the players were really nice, but there were a few who weren’t, and I remember it.”

Murray also spoke about his favourite players to watch on the men’s and women’s tours.

“I love watching [Carlos] Alcaraz because of the way that he plays the game. He’s just got so much variety and power, and he tries stuff,” he said.

“He doesn’t always get it right, he makes mistakes, and that is also something that I enjoy. You never know what’s going to come next.

“I have always enjoyed watching [Gael] Monfils as well, and on the women’s side I love watching Iga [Swiatek], I think she’s brilliant to watch. She is my favourite player to watch on the female side.”

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10 questions for WTA top 10 at Indian Wells: Will Sabalenka be unstoppable?

The top stars from the ATP and WTA tours will battling it out at Indian Wells over the next fortnight.

Carlos Alcaraz is the defending men’s champion while Elena Rybakina won the women’s title in 2023.

Ahead of the tournament, we posed 10 questions for the top 10 players on each tour, starting with the WTA Tour…

Iga Swiatek

Can Swiatek avoid Australian Open repeat? Danielle Collins in the second round, Linda Noskova in the third. Sound familiar? Iga Swiatek might have to face the same early hurdles she did at the Australian Open, where she was pushed by Collins in three sets and then upset by Noskova.

Swiatek has looked good since her early exit in Melbourne – winning in Doha and making the Dubai semis – but this is another potentially tricky draw for the world No. 1.

Aryna Sabalenka

Will Sabalenka find invincibility mode again? Aryna Sabalenka was sublime at the Australian Open, looking almost invincible as she blasted her way to the title without dropping a set.

But after a shock loss to Donna Vekic in Dubai – after which Sabalenka said her “level of play was so bad” – she now needs to rediscover that level. That loss to Vekic is Sabalenka’s only match since winning the Australian Open, so she might take a little time to get back into her groove.

Coco Gauff

Will Gauff celebrate turning 20 in style? Indian Wells will be Coco Gauff’s last tournament as a teenager. The world No. 3 turns 20 during the second week and she will be hoping to still be in the draw when she celebrates.

After losing in the Australian Open semis to Sabalenka, Gauff didn’t make a deep run in Qatar or Dubai, but this will be her first tournament back in the USA since winning the US Open and that could push her on to have another big showing.

Elena Rybakina

Is this Rybakina’s time to shine again? Elena Rybakina was one win away from doing the Sunshine Double last year as she won Indian Wells and then lost to Petra Kvitova in the Miami final.

Her serve continues to be a major weapon and she has the most wins on the WTA Tour (17) in 2024. If she is fully healthy after withdrawing from Dubai due to injury she is a leading contender.

Jessica Pegula

Pegula has made big steps forward over the last few year and will be hoping Knowles and Merklein can continue to move her upwards as she looks to rival the ‘Big Four’.

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Ons Jabeur

Can Jabeur turn tables on Andreeva? Ons Jabeur might be in a similar situation to this time last year, when she returned from injury at Indian Wells and then later said it was “probably too early”.

She missed Dubai last month due to a knee issue and it is unclear how fit she will be for Indian Wells. She has not been handed a great draw as her first match could be against 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who beat her in just 56 minutes at the Australian Open.

Marketa Vondrousova

Will the Wimbledon champion please stand up? The Marketa Vondrousova that won the Wimbledon title last summer has not been seen much since.

The 24-year-old hasn’t made it past the quarter-finals of a tournament since her maiden Slam win and has spoken about getting used to handling the pressures and expectations of being a Grand Slam winner. Rediscovering the winning mentality that guided her to victory at SW19 looks to be the challenge for Vondrousova.

Qinwen Zheng

Zheng took steps forward at the end of 2023 and comes into Indian Wells on the back of making the Dubai quarters. Another run to the last eight or further would be a positive result for the 21-year-old.

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‘It was just a difference in class’ – Expert reaction to Zheng losing to Sabalenka

Maria Sakkari

Is Sakkari a dark horse? Maria Sakkari’s form has fallen off over the last year, but she could be one to watch at Indian Wells given she made the final two years ago and semis last year.

She also has a new coach in her corner, David Witt, who has joined the team after splitting with Jessica Pegula. Witt helped Pegula reached No. 3 in the world and could be a good choice for Sakkari as she aims to move back up the rankings.

Jelena Ostapenko

How dangerous is Ostapenko? Jelena Ostapenko looks to be back in the groove this season. Only Rybakina has more wins than her on tour and she has lifted two singles titles in Adelaide and Linz.

The 26-year-old is a big hitter who is not afraid to go for her shots, and has spoken about feeling “more mature and more confident” this season. She is a player not many will relish facing at Indian Wells.

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Boulter sets sights on Wimbledon seeding after San Diego success

The British No. 1 came from a set down to beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 5-7 6-2 6-2 and reach a career-high of 27 in the world.

Boulter is back in action at Indian Wells this week, where she will attempt to continue her assault up the rankings when she takes on Italy’s Camila Giorgi in the first round of the Masters 1000 event.

With the way the rankings work, the 27-year-old has few points to defend at this stage of the season, so is aiming to take advantage in order to get more favourable draws in the Grand Slams.

“It makes a difference to who you play in the tournament, so it is a huge aim of mine,” Boulter said, as quoted by the BBC.

“I have started the year very well and given myself the best opportunity to set myself up for the rest of the year.

“I’ve got a free swing, not too much pressure and I’m just enjoying myself.”

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‘I see positive things for her in 2024’ – Henman excited for Raducanu, Boulter futures

In particular, Boulter hopes to be among the seeds for Wimbledon this July as it will mean she can’t be drawn against another seed until the third round, which is the furthest she’s gone at the tournament and at any of the sport’s marquee events.

“I want to get as close to a seeding as possible,” she added. “It takes time to build more ranking points and get myself to that place.”

Performances like the one in San Diego will help. Never before had Boulter beaten multiple players inside the world’s top 50 in a tournament but she ended that streak in style.

She recorded wins over Lesia Tsurenko, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Donna Vekic and Emma Navarro en route to the final in San Diego.

Boulter lost a close opening set to Kotsyuk before responding emphatically. Cheered on by boyfriend Alex de Minaur, who clinched the ATP Tour title in Acapulco before catching a 6am flight to be in attendance, she forced a decider and went on to seal the win in style.

“I don’t know what just happened,” she said. “This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons. This one is pretty amazing, I’ve worked very hard for it. I played some incredible tennis all week.

“A lot of it was about me staying as tough as I possibly could mentally, and I managed to keep my cool and actually kind of went within myself and calmed myself down a lot.

“I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend. He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him.

“He got in a 4:15am taxi this morning and six o’clock flight to be here today, so I do appreciate it.”

Also in action at Indian Wells is Emma Raducanu, who has been drawn against a qualifier but could face Aryna Sabalenka in the second round.

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Raducanu given Indian Wells wild card, Williams and Wozniacki also enter main draw

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has been handed a main draw wild card to compete at Indian Wells next week.

The Brit recently returned from an eight-month injury absence and must work her way back up the rankings from her current position of No. 252.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams, former world No. 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Karolina Plizkova and 2021 champion Paula Badosa were also given wild cards.

Raducanu has struggled for form since returning to competitive action in January, but will compete in both legs of the ‘Sunshine Swing’ after

She reached the second round of the Australian Open after winning her opener against Shelby Rogers before falling to Yafan Wang.

“I was struggling with everything – serve, return, forehand, backhand. I felt like I never really got into it,” Raducanu said.

“It was a combination of things. It was the first day match I have played in a year. That is different. I need to practise training outside a bit more. The lights, conditions, shadows, it is really hard to see the ball, I found towards the end.”

The 2021 US Open winner’s best showing at Indian Wells was a run to the last 16 last year.

In the men’s draw, Fabio Fognini, Brandon Nakashima, Jakub Mensik, Patrick Kypson and Aleksander Kovacevic were wild card recipients.

Indian Wells runs from March 6 to March 17 in California before the tour heads to Miami from March 19-31.

The ATP and WTA 1000 event is considered one of the most prestigious tournaments outside the four Grand Slams.

The 2023 champions were Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles and Elena Rybakina in the women’s singles.

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Will Raducanu play Indian Wells? Will she get a wild card for tournament?

As one of the biggest tournaments outside of the Grand Slams, Indian Wells will feature a stacked field.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff are set to be among the leading lights at the combined ATP and WTA 1000 event in southern California.

There will also be a strong British contingent with Andy Murray, Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Katie Boulter in the main draw.

But will Emma Raducanu be playing the tournament?

The 2021 US Open champion is not currently in the main draw as her ranking position is not high enough for direct entry.

Raducanu is ranked at No. 252 in the world after missing most of 2023 following surgery.

Due to the time she was away from tennis, Raducanu has a protected ranking which she can use to enter tournaments.

A protected ranking is designated to a player when they are injured and unable to compete for an extended period of time. It allows the player on their return from injury to use their protected ranking position to get into tournaments, as their current ranking position after injury would be too low to secure a place in the draw.

Raducanu’s protected ranking is 103, which is not high enough to secure a spot in the main draw at Indian Wells right now.

There are 96 singles players who get direct entry into Indian Wells along with 12 qualifiers and eight wild cards.

She received wild cards to play the Abu Dhabi Open and Qatar Open in February.

Speaking about her upcoming plans afterwards, she said: “It’s hard for me to get used to the tour schedule.

“It’s one tournament then another straight away. I need to schedule my tournaments a bit better and try to get more matches under my belt.”

Raducanu has a 3-4 win-loss record this season.

It is likely that Indian Wells will announce more wild cards in the coming days ahead of the main draw starting on Wednesday, March 6.

Murray says he’s ‘likely not going to play past this summer’

Andy Murray looks set to compete at Indian Wells for the final time.

Indian Wells is one of two Masters events, along with Monte Carlo, that Murray has not won in his career.

Murray confirmed his retirement is drawing nearer following defeat to Ugo Humbert in Dubai.

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Murray says he will ‘likely not play past this summer’, aims to finish at Wimbledon or Olympics

“I’m likely not going to play past this summer,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion.

“I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play. I’m bored of the question, to be honest. I’m not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But yeah, I don’t plan on playing much past this summer.”

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