Emma Raducanu of Great Britain in action against Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil during the BNP Paribas Open on March 13, 2023 in Indian Wells, California. Julian Finney/Getty Images/AFP
Emma Raducanu is through to the fourth round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career after upsetting 13th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 on Monday in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.
Raducanu, a 20-year-old London native, won the 2021 U.S. Open championship after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon that year. Outside of those two results, she already is enjoying her best-ever performance at any of the tour’s 14 biggest events: the four Grand Slam tournaments and the 10 WTA 1000 tourneys.
Ranked 77th in the world, Raducanu is back in action at Indian Wells after sitting out since February due to an ankle injury and tonsillitis.
Raducanu converted three of her eight break-point opportunities while saving three of Haddad Maia’s five break points.
“I think I played a really high level at some points of the match,” Raducanu said. “I think that I played extremely well in the first set and in the third set as well. There were some really good points and moments. I think overall the level increased in the third, and it was a battle from both of us.”
The prize for the victory: Raducanu will square off with the reigning U.S. Open champion. Top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland defeated yet another former U.S. Open champ, 32nd-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada, 6-3, 7-6 (1).
Caroline Garcia of France celebrates while playing Leylah Fernandez of Canada during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2023 in Indian Wells, California. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP
Elsewhere on Monday, fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France pulled away for a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 win over 30th-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Canada. Garcia finished with an 11-5 edge in aces while Fernandez had more double faults, 8-3. Garcia also won 85.7 percent of her first-serve points (42 of 49).
Tenth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan downed 21st-seeded Paula Badosa of Spain 6-3, 7-5, winning the last four games of the first set and five of the last six games of the second set.
The Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova knocked out 23rd-seeded Martina Trevisan of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Romania’s Sorana Cirstea crushed the United States’ Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1.
The Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova eliminated fourth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 7-6 (5), 6-4. In the final match of the night, Varvara Gracheva won an all-Russian showdown against eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-4.