Andy Murray keeping a close eye on British players as he, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper reach Indian Wells R3 with convincing wins
Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper registered convincing second-round wins at the 2023 Indian Wells on Saturday (March 11), marking a good day for British tennis.
Murray continued his fine form from recent weeks, securing a comprehensive 6-4, 6-3 win against Radu Albot in the Round-of-64. This was the 35-year-old's first straight-sets win of the season.
Draper, meanwhile, got the better of fellow Brit Dan Evans 6-4, 6-2 to claim a spot in the last-32. Draper and Murray will face each other in the next round on Sunday.
On the women's side, Emma Raducanu defeated 20th seed Magda Linette 7-6(3), 6-2 to set up a Round-of-32 clash against Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The Brits have always been very supportive of each other on tour, and that was re-emphasized on Saturday as Andy Murray was spotted keeping tabs on Raducanu during her match against Linette.
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Look who was keeping a close eye on Emma Raducanu 🇬🇧...........
Sir Andy Murray 🇬🇧
👏👏👏👏👏
Brits supporting Brits heart ❤ https://t.co/W5tMiCX26p
The last time the trio appeared together was at the Australian Open. With Draper, Raducanu and Murray suffering first, second and third-round exits respectively, it was a tournament to forget for British fans.
"Did well in the end to get through" - Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu reflect on their second round wins at Indian Wells
Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu expressed delight after securing their respective second-round wins on Saturday.
Murray, who was initially supposed to play against Pablo Carreno Busta, revealed that he was not fully prepared to deal with the sudden change in opponent.
"Maybe wasn’t as well prepared. I’d gone over my strategy and everything with my team to play Carreno Busta and then found out late last night the change of opponent.” the former World No. 1 said during the post-match press conference.
Murray also stated that the conditions were tricky, before expressing satisfcation at having found his way through in the end.
"It was quite tricky conditions at the beginning, very windy. But I did well in the end to get through," he added.
Meanwhile, Raducanu claimed after her win over Linette that her Polish opponent played well and that it took a lot of resilence from her side to get the win.
"Today, yeah, I was so pleased with the way I fought because Magda [Linette] played, like, really high level. Like some things that were working in the past weren't working today, and I adapted. Yeah, I was, yeah, just very, very pleased with how I fought and dug in," she stated.
Emma Raducanu will be hopeful of making a deep run at Indian Wells after what has been an underwhelming season for her so far.