Ema Radukaanu recorded her best win in 18 months since her US Open triumph, upsetting world No. 13 Beatriz Haddad Maia in a thrilling match under the palm trees of Indian Wells.
Despite his status as a Grand Slam champion, Raducanu is still relatively inexperienced against opposition of this quality, having only come up against top-20 players on eight previous occasions. But you wouldn’t know it from the way he attacked Haddad Miah from the start, breezed through his opening service game to love and then broke the Brazilian’s powerful left-hander at the first opportunity .
Radukanu’s speedy debut was unexpected — especially coming from a woman who arrived at Indian Wells last week in some disarray, wearing heavy bandages on both wrists and struggling after her recent bout of tonsillitis.
Haddad Maia appeared unfazed by the positivity of Redukanu’s early ball-striking and footwork, which saw the Briton move up court to open up angles at every opportunity. That first set was somewhat of a mismatch – and yet Raducanu let the momentum slip early in the second set.
As she later said, “I dropped my intensity and against a great opponent like Beatriz, it’s 6–2 before you know it.”
This was actually the case. Haddad Maia began to exert his physical strength—he’s an impressive 6 feet tall, with biceps like steel hosers—and now it was Redukanu doing most of the retrieval.
After the second set, Radukanu took a bathroom break. Haddad Maia did not appear to be particularly pleased with the delay, as he had a word with the chair umpire and also seemed to say something to Raducanu when he eventually returned to the court.
But now we saw the best part of the match, as both players went after groundstrokes with aggressive intent. A spectacular rally found Radukanu needing to play six consecutive overheads as Haddad Maia danced around the back of the court, lob after lob in a manner reminiscent of Andy Murray.
The pressure finally fell on Haddad Miah, who broke a backhand for 4-3. Now Radukanu was in the driving seat, and she maintained her composure brilliantly despite seeing her first three match points saved by her guts but ultimately frustrate the opponent.
Redukanu won 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 after a thrilling 2 hours and 20 minutes of drama. It was only the second time since winning the US Open title that she had won three matches at the same event, and is a much bigger deal than at Indian Wells Seoul (where she reached the semifinals in September, before retiring with Injury).
Indian Wells has also received a huge draw of 96 players against Seoul’s 32 – so it is only in the last 16. Competitiveness, great heart, amazing athleticism and sound technique.
“I am very happy with the way I fought and stayed in the third set,” Redukanu said afterwards. “I managed to regain my focus and intensity.
“It’s very surprising to me. I haven’t really prepared for this tournament. I haven’t really practiced. So to come here and perform at this level and be competitive is a great sign for me.
“I just had two great weeks [of training] Back home in London, and watching those coming and showing up on the match court at key points is very exciting for me sometimes. Right now, I am just focussing on getting back, resting and getting ready for tomorrow as it was a tough match in the heat.”