Emma Raducanu shrugged off injury fears to claim a highly encouraging 6-1 3-6 6-1 win over Caroline Garcia at Indian Wells on Friday.
The 19-year-old US Open champion feared she might have to miss one of the biggest tournaments on the calendar after hurting her leg in Mexico just over two weeks ago.
But she showed no ill effects as she swept aside the world number 69 in their second-round clash.
It was a timely win for Raducanu, coming after a difficult start to the year which saw her battle coronavirus as well as blisters which hampered her progress at the Australian Open.
Raducanu was in full control as she raced through the first set and looked likely to make short work of her opponent when she broke immediately at the start of the second.
But Garcia battled her way back into the match and there were fears the British number one’s testing start to the new campaign was set to continue.
Admirably, Raducanu responded immediately, racing into a 3-0 lead in the deciding set and then pouncing on her opponent’s increasing error count to set up a third-round meeting with Petra Martic.(dpa/NAN)
