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Britain’s Emma Raducanu got off to a winning start at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, where she received a wild-card and defeated qualifier Rebeka Masarova on Thursday, while Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki were among those to also advance to round 2, but Venus Williams and Karolina Pliskova failed to get themselves off the mark.
I was really pleased with how I stayed focused, didn’t get down and competed really hard in tough situations. Emma Raducanu
Raducanu booked her place in the 2nd-round with a convincing 6-2 6-3 win over Masarova, who hails from Spain and is ranked 96 in the world.
“Super important, I think, for me to get through that,” Raducanu said after her match. “I really think it’s one of the trickiest tournaments, conditions-wise, to play because it varies so much. I think I dealt with that really well, and overcame a really tough opponent, who is dangerous in these conditions.
“I really enjoy playing in America, some of my best results have been here, so I am very happy to be back here playing. I really appreciate all the love I was receiving.”
Raducanu needs a good run at the WTA 1000 in Indian Wells this week to protect the valuable points she she gained here last year, when she reached the 4th round before finally taking time off to address pain issues with her wrists and ankle by undertaking surgery, and sitting out most of the rest of the season.
The 21-year old insists she is not too concerned about her ranking, which stands at No 250 only 3 months into her come-back, but the 35 points earned for this first win will help to defend the 120 points about to drop off from last year, while one more victory would ensure that she remains inside the Top 300.
Emma Raducanu dominated most of the match against Rebeka Masarova on Day 2 at Indian Wells
© Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Looking fresh and eager in resplendent fuchsia pink, the 2021 US Open champion dominated much of the match against Masarova, although there were the odd dips, and she struggled with her serve from time to time, but she overcame it all to win convincingly enough after an hour and 45 minutes on court.
It was her 4th win out of 8 matches she has played this season, and she now has reached the 2nd-round at 4 of the 5 events she has played.
Masarova’s defeats of Britain’s Heather Watson and Linda Fruhvirtova from Czech Republic in qualifying had marked the first time this year the Spaniard had notched up consecutive wins this year, but she was unable to bring the same level against Raducanu, committing a plethora of unforced errors throughout.
Her backhand was particularly wayward, but towards the end of the first set she also gifted key errors to the Briton, with a smash into the tramlines and a netted drop-shot attempt.
Raducanu largely remained solid, and was able to raise her level when needed.
She fired her first winner of the match, a backhand down the line, to convert her 5th break point for a 3-0 double-break lead, and then tightened her grip with a sumptuous drop-shot-lob combination.
Raducanu also notched 2 key holds from 0-40 down, serving out the first set, and when consolidating an initial break in the second.
The 21-year-old’s only significant weakness came in the form of 8 double-faults, 3 of which came in a single game in the first set, but her return was on song, and she held at least one break point in all but one of Masarova’s service games.
Raducanu kept her nose in front in both sets by targeting the Masarova backhand relentlessly, and converted her 4th match point when the Spaniard struck long off that wing.
“I was really pleased with how I stayed focused, didn’t get down and competed really hard in tough situations,” said Raducanu later.
Next, Raducanu lines up against Australian Open semi-finalist and No 30 seed Dayana Yastremska, having won their only previous meeting, in the 1st-round of Portoroz 2022, after the Ukrainian was forced to retire trailing 6-2, 5-3 due to a right wrist injury.
Naomi Osaka dispatched qualifier Sara Errani in straight sets to open her BNP Paribas Open account on Thursday
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Three other Grand Slam champions were on parade on Thursday, two of whom advanced.
Naomi Osaka, who returned to the tour in January after giving birth to daughter Shai in July, beat Italian qualifier, Sara Errani, 6-3 6-1, on Stadium 1, after Venus Williams had lost to Japan’s Nao Hibino, 2-6 6-3 6-0.
Osaka lives in nearby Los Angeles and feels right at home in Indian Wells, the venue of her maiden title in 2018.
Buoyed by a quarter-final showing in Doha that boosted her ranking, the former World No 1 from Japan is still outside the Top 200, but climbing.
“I’m really inspired by the players I watched while I was pregnant, and I want to play against them,” said the 26-year old..
With Osaka’s penchant for crushing returns, and Errani unable to generate the pace she would like on serve, the match seemed to heavily favour the Japanese, especially since she won their lone previous match in 2016 Miami, 6-1 6-3.
Errani, though, is a Grand Slam finalist herself, whose guile and spin can make up for a lack of power.
On a blustery day in the desert, they traded 4 breaks in the first 6 games, but after Osaka saved 2 break points to lead 4-3, she took over.
Osaka broke in breathtaking fashion for 2-1 in the second set, ripping a forehand return winner, backhand winner and a pair of forehand winners on the last 4 points against the 36-year-old qualifier.
A big server, Liudmila Samsonova, the 14th seed from Russia, awaits Osaka in the 2nd-round.
“It’s a pleasure to be back playing – but once I get home, I’m a mom,” the 4-times Grand Slam champion said. “When I was pregnant I really wanted to return to playing. I know I’ll have to play well to improve… but I’m excited to start winning more matches.
“I wasn’t looking forward to the diapers, but now, I’m thinking about it. It’s really fun to be back playing tennis and, I think, when I go back home, I’m immediately in mom mode, and I don’t think there’s any other mode I want to be in.”
Qualifier Nao Hibino eventually outpaced Venus Williams in 3 sets after initially being dominated by the former Grand Slam champion
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Williams contested her first match since last year’s US Open, and things began well for the American against Osaka’s fellow Japanese, Nao Hibino, when they resumed at 1-1 in the first set on Thursday after Wednesday’s rain.
The 43-year old booming ground strokes initially proved too much for Hibino to handle, but when Williams hyper-extended her left leg, late in the opening set, and there was a flash-back to last year at Wimbledon, when a fall on the grass impacted her knee, and she did not play from early September to Indian Wells.
Hibino hung in there as Williams dipped, and she ended up claiming the final 10 games, and the match, 2-6 6-3 6-0.
Seconds after Williams double-faulted on match point, Hibino bowed her head when shaking hands with the 7-time Grand Slam winner. The veteran American smiled, and waved to fans as she departed.
Caroline Wozniacki’s match with China’s Zhu Lin was also cut short due to Wednesday’s rain, and the Dane had won a tight first set 7-6(6) in one hour, 15 minutes, before they were forced off, but she needed only 36 minutes more to progress a day later.
The 2011 champion in the desert, who gave birth to her second child at the end of 2022, collected her second win of the season, 7-6(6) 6-1, to set up a meeting with No 25 seed Donna Vekic from Croatia.
Venus Williams led by a set but hyperextended her knee and fell away to Nao Hibino in a match that began on Wednesday and was completed on Thursday
© Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Danielle Collins, whose match also was held over from Wednesday, lost her rag playing against the Russian teenager, Erika Andreeva.
She was leading 7-6(3), 6-5 when the rain hit, and caused play to be suspended, but not before the 30-year American screamed in frustration, telling someone in the stands watching to ‘shut up’.
Collins eventually prevailed on Thursday, 7-6(3) 7-6(6), to set up a 2nd-round meeting with top seed Iga Swiatek on Friday.
Among other Day 2 results, Russia’s Anna Blinkova saw off former World No 1 Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic, 6-1 2-6 6-4, while 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens was a 7-5 6-3 winner over Egypt’s Mayer Sherif, and Czech Katerina Siniakova took out Belgian Greet Minnen, 7-5 7-6(3).
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