Raducanu exits Indian Wells with late collapse against Martic
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Raducanu bowed out of Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters in 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-5 loss to Petra Martic.
INDIAN WELLS (AFP) - US Open champion Emma Raducanu suffered another disappointment Sunday, bowing out in the third round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters in a 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-5 loss to Petra Martic.
The 19-year-old Briton, who stormed to an unlikely title as a qualifier at Flushing Meadows last year without dropping a set, served for the match at 5-4 in the third.
But the 13th seed couldn t muster a match point and lost the next three games, a string of forehand errors spelling the end of her challenge in a final loss of serve.
It s just the latest setback for Raducanu, who was ousted in the second round of the Australian Open in January.
She was the top seed at Guadalajara last month when a hip injury forced her to retire from her first-round match.
In seven tournaments since her US Open triumph, her best run was into the quarter-finals of the Transylvanian Open in October.
Martic, ranked 79th in the world, notched her first win over a top-20 player in more than two years.
"This victory means so much to me," Martic said.
"I really wanted it so bad. I m just happy I stayed calm when I was not playing so good. Because I think it was up and down for both sides," added Martic, who next faces 28th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova, a 6-4, 6-7 (7/4) winner over Danka Kovinic.
Kovinic had taken down seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the second round, but couldn t engineer another upset in the face of Samsonova s big game.
In other early matches, men s seventh seed Andrey Rublev won his second-round opener against Germany s Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-4.
Rublev, on the rise after titles in Marseille and Dubai this year, next faces either Frances Tiafoe or Brandon Nakashima.
Rublev got off to a slow start, falling 4-2 down before breaking 51st-ranked Koepfer twice to pocket the first set.
Now on a 10-match winning streak, Rublev belted 32 winners and won 11 of 15 points at the net.
The second set was just as close. After breaking for a 4-3 lead Rublev immediately surrendered his serve, but he broke Koepfer to lead 5-4 and then survived three break points to close it out with a service winner.
Alexander Bublik, the 31st seed, sent former world number one Andy Murray packing with a 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 win over the three-time Grand Slam champion.
Bublik, coming off his first career ATP title at Montpellier in February, beat Murray for the first time in three career meetings.
Murray s run ended a round after he became the fourth active ATP player to reach 700 career match wins with a first-round victory over Taro Daniel.
Men s second-round action on Sunday was highlighted by third-seeded German Alexander Zverev s night match against American Tommy Paul.
But prior to that, American Coco Gauff celebrated her 18th birthday with a third-round clash with former world number one Simona Halep of Romania.
