‘A Long Way To Go’ – Raducanu Loses In 52 Minutes

Britain’s Emma Raducanu says she needs to be “aggressive” if she is to compete against the world’s best players after losing to Amanda Anisimova in only 52 minutes at Indian Wells.

American sixth seed Anisimova, a runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, raced to a 6-1 6-1 victory to reach the fourth round in California.

Raducanu lost her serve in the opening game, won only 11 points in the first set and was 3-0 down in the second before managing to hold serve.

“When I’m playing someone who’s at the top like that, I think they have an extra 10 miles an hour on their serve than me,” Raducanu said.

“If I’m not feeling it, that gap feels more evident in terms of weight of shot, in terms of power.

“You just feel a little bit behind and your punches aren’t landing as much as theirs are.

“I need to obviously be aggressive when playing those players, but I think there’s still a long way to go to be doing that and I need to use my strengths and probably mix it up a bit more.”

Having enlisted Mark Petchey as a temporary coach after parting with Francisco Roig in January, Raducanu said last week that she is hoping to rediscover her “natural way of playing” in an attempt to build towards the form that won her the 2021 US Open.

Raducanu, who beat Anastasia Zakharova 6-1 6-3 in the second round, said: “It’s difficult to read much into the game, other than the starting the point really, as there were no rallies.

“But I have to look at what I achieved in the last nine days of practice since I arrived here, and the first match was a good one for me.

“Today I could let it get me down if I wanted to, but overall I think the days have been better than not.”

Anisimova will face 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, the 10th seed, in the last 16.