Emma Raducanu shrugged off a disrupted build-up to Indian Wells to attain a straight-sets win in simply 81 minutes. Though she confirmed little signal of the wrist bother that had flared up in current days, she was respiratory closely all through, and appeared to be battling the aftermath of her current bout of tonsillitis.
Raducanu’s 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinic – the world No 62 from Montenegro – relied on her superior consistency on what was a gusty day within the Californian desert. Early on within the match, the wind was so robust and inconsistent that it made the ball dance round within the air, and it fully ruined Kovinic’s rhythm.
Regardless of going up 2-0 in each units, Kovinic by no means actually appeared to be answerable for her pictures. Greater than half of the factors that Raducanu received had been contributed by her opponent’s hefty tally of 32 unforced errors – which labored out to round two per recreation.
Kovinic thus made for a disappointing opponent – simply as Raducanu’s most up-to-date sufferer Tamara Korpatsch had accomplished within the first spherical of January’s Australian Open. In each circumstances, nonetheless, Raducanu’s apparently simple victory was made extra creditable by the truth that she had are available beneath a cloud.
In Australia, it was the restricted motion brought on by a sprained ankle. Right here, Raducanu discovered herself repeatedly coughing right into a towel on the changeovers. On the very least, it appears as if the tonsillitis has affected her conditioning – and possibly the an infection has left her with some respiratory points as properly.
