Emma Raducanu
The 2021 US Open champion, Emma Raducanu went past France’s Caroline Garcia 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in a second-round match of the BNP Paribas Open this Friday.
Emma notched up her first win in the tournament. She has had a rough start to the year battling coronavirus and blisters which affected her progress at the Australian Open.
This win will certainly lift her morale. This was only her third win after her US Open triumph. Raducanu seeded 11th beat world no. 66 Caroline Garcia with relative ease. She dominated Garcia in the first and third sets but Garcia didn’t go down without a fight winning the second set with some trademark shots. Emma won her first Masters 1000 match of her career.
Emma converted six of her eight break points. She had a win percentage on the first serve of 70%. The 19-year-old recently recovered from a hip injury she encountered during her first-round loss in Guadalajara in February. She had to retire in her match against Australia’s Daria Saville.
Andy Murray picked up his 700th career victory over Taro Daniel. Raducanu said she drew inspiration from fellow British star’s win.
Murray and Raducanu played back to back on center court. Murray picked up a brilliant comeback victory after losing the first set convincingly.
“I definitely looked up to him today, especially because I was following him,” Raducanu told reporters after her win.
Raducanu said she was thinking about how Murray came back after losing the first set and wanted to do the same after she lost the second set in her match.
“I knew he came through some tricky moments and I was thinking of that when I dropped the second set. I was like, ‘You can do the same, just keep pushing.”
Raducanu said it was an advantage to play after Murray.
“I think it was great to follow him in the order of play today,” she added.
“We crossed paths when he was coming off and I was there waiting for the match,” she said.
“It’s always a weird one when you’re following someone who has just won. You’re like, I really want to do the same. It kind of gives you the extra fuel. I was really happy for him. He gave me a fist bump, it was really cool.“
“I’m just really glad that level my level was good enough today,” she added.
Murray will face Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in the next round. Raducanu will take on Croatia’s Petra Martic.
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