Raducanu exits Indian Wells with late collapse; Murray ousted

Emma Raducanu of Great Britain plays a forehand against Petra Martic of Croatia in their third round match on Day 7 of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2022 in Indian Wells, California. (Getty Images via AFP)

INDIAN WELLS, United States  – US Open champion Emma Raducanu suffered another disappointment Sunday, bowing out in the third round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters in a 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-5 loss to Petra Martic.

The 19-year-old Briton, who stormed to an unlikely title as a qualifier at Flushing Meadows last year without dropping a set, served for the match at 5-4 in the third.

But the 13th seed couldn’t muster a match point and lost the next three games, a string of forehand errors spelling the end of her challenge in a final loss of serve.

It’s just the latest setback for Raducanu, who was ousted in the second round of the Australian Open in January.

She was the top seed at Guadalajara last month when a hip injury forced her to retire from her first-round match.

In seven tournaments since her US Open triumph, her best run was into the quarter-finals of the Transylvanian Open in October.

Martic, ranked 79th in the world, notched her first win over a top-20 player in more than two years.

Petra Martic of Croatia plays a forehand against Emma Raducanu of Great Britain in their third round match on Day 7 of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2022 in Indian Wells, California. (Getty Images via AFP)

“This victory means so much to me,” Martic said.

“I really wanted it so bad. I’m just happy I stayed calm when I was not playing so good. Because I think it was up and down for both sides,” added Martic, who next faces 28th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova, a 6-4, 6-7 (7/4) winner over Danka Kovinic.

Kovinic had taken down seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the second round, but couldn’t engineer another upset in the face of Samsonova’s big game.

In other early matches, men’s seventh seed Andrey Rublev won his second-round opener against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-4.

Rublev, on the rise after titles in Marseille and Dubai this year, next faces either Frances Tiafoe or Brandon Nakashima.

Rublev got off to a slow start, falling 4-2 down before breaking 51st-ranked Koepfer twice to pocket the first set.

Now on a 10-match winning streak, Rublev belted 32 winners and won 11 of 15 points at the net.

The second set was just as close. After breaking for a 4-3 lead Rublev immediately surrendered his serve, but he broke Koepfer to lead 5-4 and then survived three break points to close it out with a service winner.

Murray eliminated

Alexander Bublik, the 31st seed, sent former world number one Andy Murray packing with a 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 win over the three-time Grand Slam champion.

Bublik, coming off his first career ATP title at Montpellier in February, beat Murray for the first time in three career meetings.

Murray’s run ended a round after he became the fourth active ATP player to reach 700 career match wins with a first-round victory over Taro Daniel.

Men’s second-round action on Sunday was highlighted by third-seeded German Alexander Zverev’s night match against American Tommy Paul.

But prior to that, American Coco Gauff celebrated her 18th birthday with a third-round clash with former world number one Simona Halep of Romania.

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