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Rising British tennis star Emma Raducanu admitted that she has got to get stronger following a surprise Indian Wells defeat. Raducanu, ranked at No. 13 in the world, missed out on a great chance to beat Petra Martic in the Indian Wells third round.
Raducanu failed to serve out for the match in the 10th game of the third set as Martic won 6-7 (3) 6-4 7-5. “I think it’s just part of not playing and having so much stop-start and having five, six days to prepare for matches and then playing at that intensity," Raducanu told the BBC Sport, as quoted on Tennishead.
“It was a tough one not being able to serve full out so I was having to work so hard just to hold. I’ve just got to get stronger. “I’ve had it for the last few days, just a product of training hard and probably the last match was pretty intense too and it didn’t settle down.
“When you are crossing your fingers to hold serve every time, it’s tough. I couldn’t really drive up and I was kind of struggling to turn and reach. The margins were so small. “I should be good for Miami, for sure”.
Raducanu blew a big lead
Raducanu failed to serve out for the opener in the ninth game of the first set as Martic broke back and managed to force a tie-break. In the tie-break, Raducanu opened an early 3-1 lead and never looked back to win a tight opener.
After winning the first set, Raducanu broke Martic in the opening game of the second set. Raducanu was up by a set and a break but Martic refused to quit as she broke the Briton three times in the rest of the set to force a decider.
Raducanu broke Martic in the ninth game of the third set but then collapsed as Martic earned back-to-back breaks to overturn the deficit and complete a comeback win.