Emma Raducanu didn't play a good match in the opening round of the 2025 Indian Wells Open, losing to Moyuka Uchijima in two very straightforward sets.
Raducanu's struggles and inconsistent play continued also at the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells. Before the tournament, she admitted that she even considered not competing at the event after an incident with a stalker that happened at the Dubai Championships.
But because of how she loves competing in the United States, the British player elected to travel to the country and compete in the Sunshine Double. But she couldn't bring her A-game to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Raducanu's first-round opponent was the World No. 52 Moyuka Uchijima. The Japanese player has recorded some impressive wins in her career, but she was on a two-match losing streak entering this event.
On top of that, the two met once before. They played at the 2022 Korea Open in Seoul, and back then, it was a very straightforward win for Raducanu. She won their first-round match 6-2, 6-4.
Like in that match, the 2021 US Open champion got off to a good start in this match as well. She broke her opponent's serve first and after saving two break points in the following game, the Brit led already 2-0.
But for a while, that was the last game that she won. Uchijima broke Raducanu's serve twice in a row while holding her serve without too many issues, leading 4-2. But also the Japanese player couldn't hold her one-break advantage for too long.
Raducanu was back in it down 3-4, but her serving struggles were just too big in this match. She lost her serve for the third time in the opening set, falling behind 3-5. The Brit faced a break point in every single one of her service games in the first set.
After breaking for the third time, Uchijima was able to close out the opening set despite being down 0-30 on her serve when serving for the set. The Japanese player overcame that deficit, winning the set 6-3.
Things didn't improve for Raducanu in the second set. Despite hitting her first serve 72% of the time, she won only 49% of the rallies after her first serve. After her second serve, the Brit won only one of three rallies played.
Because of those struggles, Raducanu faced break points in all but one of her service games in the second set. In fact, she faced break points in seven out of her eight service games in the match.
The 22-year-old Brit was broken twice in the second set. She also didn't use her three chances to break back at 2-3 down, and the match slipped away from her after that.
Uchijima won 11 consecutive points from 3-2 and 40-AD to win the match 6-3, 6-2, eliminating Raducanu already in the first round.
