The 19-year-old British number one Emma Raducanu overcame Caroline Garcia of France 6-1 3-6 6-1 at Indian Wells to make it through to the third round.
Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu picked up her first career victory at the BNP Paribas Open, overcoming former World No.4 Caroline Garcia 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to advance into the third round.
In the first career meeting between the two, No.11 seed Raducanu of Great Britain held off France’s Garcia in an hour and 31 minutes, setting up a third-round clash with Petra Martic of Croatia.
Back to winning ways: Raducanu, who pulled off a stunning run to her first Grand Slam title as a qualifier in New York last season, lost in her BNP Paribas Open tournament debut last October, when she fell to then-World No.100 Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round after a first-round bye.
Raducanu, 19, had only won one match this season coming into the desert, while suffering three 2022 defeats. However, the Brit showed excellent form in the first and third sets against Garcia to pick up her second match-win of season.
“It was definitely a tough match to win,” Raducanu said in her post-match press conference. “Caroline is a really tricky opponent because she is 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’m just glad that I managed to adjust for the third.
“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.”
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BNP Paribas Open Emma Raducanu Caroline Garcia Tennis Sports Kolkata
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