Emma Raducanu suffered a heavy defeat in just 52 minutes to Amanda Anisimova in the third round at Indian Wells. The British No 1 was well below par in a 6-1, 6-1 loss to the American world No 6.
Raducanu, seeded 25, may have been struggling with a fitness problem as she repeatedly refused to chase down drop shots. The 23-year-old’s first serve misfired badly and she hit just two winners to her opponent’s 21.
“I think I can be very pleased with my performance today,” Anisimova said in her on-court interview. “I had a tough first round so just went out to be fearless. I wanted to enjoy it and wanted to keep the run going.”
The top seed, Aryna Sabalenka, eased into the last 16 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian. She will meet Naomi Osaka, who needed all three sets to get past Camila Osorio of Colombia 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
In the men’s draw, the second seed, Jannik Sinner, needed just 71 minutes to book his place in the last 16 with a 6-3 6-2 win over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov. The fourth seed, Alexander Zverev, was made to work harder before beating Brandon Nakashima 7-6 5-7 6-4 in just over two and a half hours.
