On Thursday, Emma Raducanu, a former US Open champion, defeated Danka Kovinic 6-2, 6-3, coming back from a break down in each set to go to the second round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters 1000.
British player Raducanu continued her comeback from different injuries that have hindered her 2023 campaign as she exacted revenge on the Montenegro for a 2022 Australian Open second-round defeat.
Raducanu injured her ankle in her second match of 2023 in Auckland and had to end her 2022 season early due to wrist pain.
Her tonsillitis forced her to withdraw from the WTA tournament in Austin last week, and her wrist issues caused her to withdraw from a pre-tournament exhibition here.
Raducanu, who trailed 0-2 in both games, stated, “That was a good match for me to come through. In an hour and twenty-one minutes, she finished it off, breaking Kovinic in the decisive game to love.
Raducanu remarked, “I played her at AO and it was quite the battle. “I’m glad I persisted.”
One of the former Grand Slam winners competing in the California desert was Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion. All 32 men’s and women’s seeds, including Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, received byes in the first round.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka defeated Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic by scores of 6-4, 1-6, and 6-1 to go to the second round where he will face Serbia’s 26th-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic.
After reaching the Indian Wells and Roland Garros finals in 2017, Wawrinka, a former world number three who is currently ranked 100th, has undergone two surgeries on his left knee and two on his left foot.
But after making it to the quarterfinals in Rotterdam and Marseille, he arrived in the California desert, where he is competing for the first time since 2019.
Andy Murray, a former world number one from Britain, faced Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, while Dominic Thiem squared off against Adrian Mannarino of France.
Alcaraz will take on Kokkinakis.
Austria’s Thiem, who won the US Open in 2020 and defeated Roger Federer in the 2019 Indian Wells final, is making a comeback after breaking his right wrist in 2021 and missing eight months.
Murray, on the other hand, is striving to regain his position at the top following a hip operation in 2019. He was the 55th-ranked player in the world when he made a valiant run to the Doha final, where he survived eight match points in four matches before losing to Daniil Medvedev.
Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, squared off against Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, in the evening session.
In other matches on Thursday, Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated US wild card Brandon Holt by scores of 6-4, 6-1 to secure a second-round matchup with top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz.
A clash with the fourth-seeded reigning champion Taylor Fritz is now possible with to American Ben Shelton’s 6-4, 6-1 victory against Italian veteran Fabio Fognini.
The 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins lost 6-4, 6-4 to fortunate loser Dalma Galfi, who was ranked 80th, marking her second consecutive defeat to a player outside the top 50.
