Setbacks fuel the Raducanu fire in Indian Wells victory

Indian fountain: Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu bounced back from a collapse in every set to beat Danka Kovinic 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the second round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters 1000.

Britain’s Raducanu avenged a second-round loss to the Montenegrin at the 2022 Australian Open as she continued her battle with various ailments that have slowed her 2023 campaign.

“I’m glad I persevered,” said Raducanu, who ended her 2022 season early with a wrist problem and injured her ankle in her second game of 2023 in Auckland.

Raducanu had ended her 2022 season early due to wrist problems and injured her ankle in her second game of 2023 in Auckland.

She retired from the WTA event in Austin last week with tonsillitis and pulled out of a pre-tournament show here when her wrist problems flared up.

But she said the litany of issues only made her more determined.

“I just love to compete,” said Raducanu. “Even if it’s against you and you just went through it, I think in a way it gives you more incentive to have something you’re going through.

“Like ‘OK,’ I need to be aggressive or dominate — there’s something you can really hold on to and use.”

Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, was just one of the former Grand Slam winners in action in the California desert, where the men’s and women’s 32 seeds – led by Carlos Alcaraz and Iga 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 win over Australia qualifier Aleksandar Vukic to face 26th-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the second round.

Wawrinka, a former world no.

But he arrived in Indian Wells, where he is playing for the first time since 2019, having reached the quarter-finals in Rotterdam and Marseille.

Former world number one Andy Murray from Great Britain met Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Dominic Thiem against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

– Kokkinakis meets Alcaraz –

Austria’s Thiem, who defeated Roger Federer in Indian Wells in 2019 and won the 2020 US Open, is on the comeback trail after injuring his right wrist in 2021 and missing eight months.

Murray, meanwhile, is struggling to return to the top after undergoing a hip replacement in 2019. Ranked 55th in the world, he gained confidence with a battle for the final in Doha, where he overcame eight match points in four games before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the final.

In the night session, 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens meets 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin in an all-American duel.

In other games on Thursday, Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is ranked at No. 94 in the world, booked a second-round clash with top seed Carlos Alcaraz in a 6-4, 6-1 win over US wildcard Brandon Get.

The American Ben Shelton defeated the Italian veteran Fabio Fognini 6:4, 6:1 and thus prepared a duel with the fourth-placed 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 80th-ranked loser Dalma Galfi . -AFP