Former US Open champion Emma Reducanu came back from a break down in each set to beat Danka Kovinik 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday and reach the second round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters 1000 events.
Britain’s Radukanu avenged her 2022 Australian Open second round loss to the Montenegrin as she continues her battle with various ailments that slowed her 2023 campaign.
With wrist trouble curtailing his 2022 season early and an ankle injury in his second match of 2023 in Auckland, “I’m glad I got in.”
Radukanu injured his ankle early in the 2022 season with wrist discomfort in his second match of 2023 in Auckland.
She pulled out of a WTA event in Austin last week with tonsillitis and pulled out of a pre-tournament exhibition here when her wrist discomfort flared up.
But she said the multitude of problems has made her more determined.
“I just love to compete,” Raducanu said. “Even when it’s against you and you’re just through it, I think going through something gives you more encouragement in some ways.
“Like, ‘okay’ I have to be aggressive or dominate—something to really cling to and use.”
Radukanu, the 2021 US Open champion, was among former Grand Slam winners in action in the California desert, where 32 men’s and women’s seeds – led by Carlos Alcaraz and Inga Swiatek – enjoyed byes in the first round.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka fired 17 winners in a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic to set up a second-round clash with 26th seed Miomir Kekmanovic of Serbia.
Wawrinka, a former world number three who is now ranked 100, has had surgery on his left knee and two on his left foot since reaching the finals at Indian Wells and Roland Garros in 2017.
But he arrives at Indian Wells, where he is playing for the first time since 2019, after reaching the quarterfinals in Rotterdam and Marseille.
Former world number one Britain’s Andy Murray faces Argentina’s Tomas Martin Echeverri and Dominic Thiem faces Adrian Mannarino of France.
– Kokkinakis to face Alcaraz –
Austria’s Thiem, who beat Roger Federer at the 2019 Indian Wells title and won the 2020 US Open, is making a comeback in 2021 after injuring his right wrist and missing eight months.
Murray, meanwhile, is struggling to return to the top after a hip replacement in 2019. Ranked 55 in the world, he gained confidence as he fought back to reach the final in Doha, where he held eight match points in four games before losing to Daniel. Medvedev in the final
In the night session, 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens faced 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin in an all-American clash.
In Thursday’s other matches, Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis, ranked 94th in the world, met top seed Carlos Alcaraz with a 6-4, 6-1 win over US wild card Brandon Holt in the second round.
American Ben Shelton beat Italian veteran Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1 to set up a showdown with fourth seeded defending champion Taylor Fritz.
2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins dropped a second straight decision against an opponent ranked outside the top 50 as she fell 6-4, 6-4 to lucky loser 80th-ranked Dalma Gulfi.
BB/RCW
