Emma Raducanu won two matches in a row for the first time since September last year as she sparkled in a straight sets win over Magda Linette in Indian Wells.
The Brit – who hadn’t won successive matches since the Korea Open – impressed from the start as she came through 7-6, 6-2 in the Californian desert. There were fears pre-tournament that a wrist injury had returned for the former US Open champion but she overcame the challenge of Danka Kovinic in round one.
Magda Linette has enjoyed a strong start to the year with a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open at the start of the year and she took control early when breaking the Raducanu serve to lead 3-1. A powerful backhand followed by a similarly quick forehand brought up a Raducanu break point in game seven and more pressure forced Linette long to get the set back on serve.
Fans inside Stadium 4 were being treated to a high-quality tennis match and a Raducanu ace levelled the match at 4-4. The players then exchanged service holds before Raducanu made her bid to claim the opener, setting up three break points and taking it on the first one.
However, now leading 6-5 and getting ready to serve for the first set, Raducanu called for the physio at the changeover as the wrist appeared to be bothering her.
Concerns were growing as the World No. 77 failed to grasp her opportunity as Linette broke straight back to love to force a tiebreak. But Raducanu is made of stern stuff and she dominated the breaker as her opponent lost a bit of range on her shots and the Brit was a set up.
It was a cagey start to the second set but all the momentum was with Raducanu. And she got ahead early when Linette double-faulted to hand the 20-year-old a 3-1 scoreline. Two break points were coolly fended off by Raducanu in the next game and she could almost see the finish line when another strong service hold had her 5-2 up.
And she secured her strongest result of the year when she broke the Linette serve once again with a forehand winner down the line to make it through to the third round.
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