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World No. 79 Petra Martic survived a thriller to stun No. 11 seed Emma Raducanu at the Indian Wells Masters. Martic, a former world No. 14, recovered from a set down to defeat Raducanu 6-7 (3) 6-4 7-5 and progress into the Indian Wells round-of-16.
"It was a rollercoaster of emotions, obviously it was a really tough match," Martic said afterwards. "I managed to turn it around, and I’m really happy with today’s win. "It was difficult to lose that first set after being a break up.
And then, the same thing in the third. But I managed to let go, just stay in the moment, and play one point at a time."
Martin sends Raducanu packing out of Indian Wells
Martin led 3-1 after the opening four games but Raducanu then claimed back-to-back breaks to overturn the deficit and take a 5-3 lead.
Raducanu failed to serve out for the first set in the ninth game as Martic managed to force a tie-break. In the tie-break, Raducanu took an early 3-1 lead and never looked back to win a tight opener. After winning the first set, Raducanu broke Martic in the third game to take an early 2-1 lead in the second set.
Martic responded by claiming back-to-back breaks and taking a 4-2 lead in the second set but she got broken back in the seventh game. Martin saved a break point in the ninth game to go 5-4 up, before breaking Raducanu in the following game to force a decider.
After winning the second set, Martic took an early 2-0 lead in the second set but Raducanu broke back third game. Raducanu claimed the next break in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead but then dropped her serve in back-to-back games as Martic overturned the deficit and completed a comeback win.
Martic plays next against Liudimila Samsonova. Martic is now a win away from reaching her second Indian Wells quarterfinal. Martic reached her first Indian Wells quarterfinal in 2018, before losing to former world No. 1 Simona Halep.