British trio Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper all won on Saturday to reach the third round at Indian Wells.
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, fought back from 4-1 down in the first set to beat Poland’s Magda Linette, the 20th seed, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.
She will now face Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 13th seed, for a place in the last 16.
Murray beat Moldova’s Radu Albot 6-4 6-3 to set up a meeting with Draper, who beat compatriot Dan Evans 6-4 6-2.
Raducanu, 20, continued her return to form after shrugging off illness and a recurring wrist injury to beat Danka Kovinic on Thursday.
The world number 77 fought back to win the opening set on a tie-break, then eased through the second set for her first back-to-back victories since September.
Raducanu suffered an ankle injury before January’s Australian Open and tonsillitis forced her to withdraw from last week’s Austin Open, while the wrist injury that cut short her 2022 season required attention from a physiotherapist on Saturday.
“I feel better, it was still a challenge, I wouldn’t say I was 100% but better than the first-round match,” Raducanu, who earned her biggest win by ranking since landing the major title in New York, told BBC Sport.
“I had to dig really deep against Magda because her level was really high.
“The wrist isn’t completely pain free. But I gritted my teeth a little bit and it’s good to still be able to win matches at this level despite the challenges I’ve had over the past few weeks.”
Poland’s world number one Iga Swiatek enjoyed a 6-0 6-1 win over Claire Liu, whose fellow American Jessica Pegula, the third seed, fought back to beat Italy’s Camila Giorgi 3-6 6-1 6-2.
Tunisian fourth seed Ons Jabeur, playing for the first time since losing in the Australian Open second round in January, fought back to beat Poland’s Magdalena Frech 4-6 6-4 6-1.
Former world number one Murray enjoyed his first straight-set win since last October after his original opponent, the 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, had to withdraw because of a muscle injury.
After a number of marathon wins in the opening weeks of the season, Murray said it felt good to beat Albot in one hour and 42 minutes.
“It has been a long time [since winning a match in straight sets], I’ve had a lot of brutal matches since then,” he said.
“Probably some of them I could have finished sooner and probably a bunch a matches I could have lost as well. It was nice to get through this one.”
The 35-year-old Scot now has his first meeting with Draper, 14 years his junior and ranked just one spot below him at 56.
In his first match against Evans, Draper broke the 32-year-old in his first two service games and his last two to knock out the 24th seed.
“Playing Dan is a really tough challenge, I think he is one of the best competitors on the tour and he has an awkward style. I knew that coming in and knew he wouldn’t want to lose to me,” said Draper.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who could to the ATP number one ranking by winning the title, started with a sharp 6-3 6-3 victory against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Defending champion Taylor Fritz came from a set down to beat fellow American Ben Shelton – the fast-rising 20-year-old who reached the Australian Open quarter-finals – in a 4-6 6-4 6-3 triumph.
Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev beat American Brandon Nakashima 6-4 6-3 while his Russian compatriot Andrey Rublev, the sixth seed, won 6-4 6-2 against the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka.
Source – BBC Sport
