Emma Raducanu has received a pretty favorable start in Indian Wells, but making it past the third round will be easier said than done since a round three meeting with one of the best players in the game is looming for the Briton.
In what will be her sixth consecutive Indian Wells appearance, Raducanu got the No. 25 seeding and has a first-round bye. In the second round, the British tennis player will play against either world No. 82 Ella Seidel or a qualifier. On paper, it will be a good matchup for the 2021 US Open and she will be the favorite to win.
If Raducanu takes care of her Indian Wells opener, she will then likely face next last year’s Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Amanda Anisimova. Last year, they clashed three times and the Briton won their Australian Open and Miami meetings. However, shortly after making her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, Anisimova annihilated the Briton 6-2 6-1 in Montreal.
While the 24th-ranked Briton beat Anisimova twice in early 2025, there is no doubt that the American would enter their match as the clear favorite to win.
Raducanu enters Indian Wells after dealing with illness and making a team addition
In early February, Raducanu finished as runner-up in Cluj-Napoca, but also contracted illness in the process. The world No. 24 was assisted by Alexis Canter in Cluj-Napoca. Ahead of Indian Wells, the 23-year-old also brought back Mark Petchey to her team, who guided her to a maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Miami last year.
Speaking with the media last week, the 2021 US Open champion revealed that her goal was to play more aggressively in the upcoming period.
“I know the drills that I need to be doing right now in this moment in time…just repetition of doing those key fundamentals. I think I want to go back to that and [develop] a more aggressive style of playing,” Raducanu said.