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Emma Raducanu has called her run to the third round of Indian Wells a “success” after winning back-to-back matches for the first time this year.
The former US Open champion went down fighting as she was beaten in straight sets by world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday having won consecutive matches for the first time since her run to the last 16 of the same tournament last year.
Raducanu has been working with her childhood coach Nick Cavaday following her return from an eight-month absence after surgery on both wrists and ankle.
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Highlights of Emma Raducanu’s defeat at the hands of Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka
“It was a good success, I would say,” Raducanu said of her week. “I think I have handled myself a lot better on the match court. I was a lot more positive and hungry to play, and that showed I think in the tennis that I did play.”
The 21-year-old, ranked 250th in the world, is scheduled to return to action at the Miami Open next week after being given a wildcard to play at the 1000 combined tournament – live on Sky Sports Tennis.
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Naomi Broady and commentator Jonathan Overend discussed the spotlight Raducanu has been under since her fairytale run to the US Open title three years ago.
“I actually think that’s the more difficult thing for Emma in her career because she’s got the level of tennis so if she can overcome the injuries, she’s drawn a line in the sand so she can finally train properly but it’s actually dealing with the rest of the stuff that comes with it,” said former world No 76 Broady.
“You don’t know how to deal with it until you live it so it’s just a learning curve for Emma and everything is still so, so new so she’s cut a lot of the team she’s had around her.
“In fact she was only with her coach at Indian Wells, you see the top players now with physio and fitness, the coach and the phycologist, and Emma was just with her coach Nick Cavaday so she’s really keeping it as small as possible and only hiring people that she knows and trusts.
“Because she’s playing these higher-level events she’s going to be drawing the top players quite early on and although she hasn’t won back-to-back matches until this week she’s coming up[ against the top players. It’s a great test for her and a test at some point she’s going to have to pass because if she continues to play at the highest level events she’s going to keep playing the top players.”
Overend added: “One match she did play right at the start of her comeback against former world No 3 Elina Svitolina in Auckland, New Zealand and that was a match that Emma played, for two sets, she disappeared a bit in the third set, but for two hours and two sets she was right there with a top, top player.
“First set against [Ons] Jabeur, who’s a top 10 player, in Abu Dhabi, again, she competed hard.
“This is a career in reverse because she’s won a Grand Slam title in her teens and done something that virtually no other player will be able to do. She’s already done it, so now she’s going to get used to working her way back up the rankings and playing tournaments that are not quite as high-profile as this one but when those opportunities do come she has to believe that she can play at that level because she’s demonstrated it in her career.”
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