Emma Raducanu at Indian Wells 2022: how did tennis star do against Petra Martić - and when will she play next?

Emma Raducanu is one of the fastest growing stars in the world of tennis - the 19-year-old became a household name after reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon 2021 as a wildcard entrant at just 18.

She is the current reigning champion of the US Open, and was the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade in the 1977 Wimbledon Championships.

Most recently, the tennis player has been competing at Indian Wells after fielding a number of recent injuries - this is everything you need to know.

What happened in her match against Petra Martic?

Raducanu missed out on a place in the last 16 at the BNP Paribas Open after losing in the final set to Croatia’s Petra Martić on Sunday (13 March).

The US Open champion served for the match in the decider but could not finish the job and bowed out of the Indian Wells tournament as Martić hit back to win 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5.

Britain’s Raducanu, the 11th seed, led 5-4 with a break but Martić reeled off three successive games to prevail in two hours and 46 minutes.

The match had been an eventful one. World number 79 Martić seized the early initiative with a break in the first set but Raducanu quickly turned things around to lead 5-3.

She then had the chance to serve for the opener but it took a tie-break for the 19-year-old to eventually nudge ahead after Martić again responded.

The pair then traded breaks in the second set but Martić went on to draw level after saving a crucial break point en route to holding serve for 5-4.

Martić broke early in the third but Raducanu then won five of the next seven games to move within sight of victory.

Yet there was to be one final twist and Martić, a quarter-finalist four years ago, broke back before going on to take the win.

The Croatian will now face 28th seed Liudmila Samsonova, who beat Danka Kovinic 6-4 7-6.

What did she say about her loss?

After the match, the tennis player opened up to the BBC about a stiff back that had been bothering her the past few days, and was “pretty tired”.

Randucanu has been fielding frequent injuries as of late - she was forced to pull out of her second round match at the Australian Open due to a painful blister on her hand, and withdrew from the Abierto Akron Zapopan with a hip injury.

She had only just recovered in time to compete at Indian Wells. Raducanu had been previously told that the required recovery period had actually ruled her out of Indian Wells.

“I think it’s just part of not playing and having so much stop-start and having five, six days to prepare for matches and then playing at that intensity,” said Raducanu after the match.

“It was a tough one not being able to serve full out so I was having to work so hard just to hold. I’ve just got to get stronger.

“I’ve had it for the last few days, just a product of training hard and probably the last match was pretty intense too and it didn’t settle down.

“When you are crossing your fingers to hold serve every time, it’s tough. I couldn’t really drive up and I was kind of struggling to turn and reach. The margins were so small.”

When will she play next?

While her early out at Indian Wells was likely not the result she was hoping for, it does however give her extra time to train and prepare for the upcoming Miami Open.

The Miami Open will kick off on 21 March and will run until 3 April 2022.

The schedule for the Miami Open goes as follows.

Week one:

• Monday 21 March: women’s and men’s single qualifying (48 draw)
• Tuesday 22 March: women’s and men’s singles qualifying (48 draw)/women’s singles 1st round (96 draw)
• Wednesday 23 March: women’s and men’s singles 1st round (96 draw)/doubles (32 draw)
• Thursday 24 March: women’s and men’s singles 1st round (96 draw)/doubles (32 draw)
• Friday 25 March: women’s and men’s singles 2nd round/doubles
• Saturday 26 March: women’s singles 3rd round/men’s singles 2nd round/doubles
• Sunday 27 March: women’s and men’s singles 3rd round/doubles

Week two:

• Monday 28 March: women’s singles 4th round/men’s singles 3rd round/doubles
• Tuesday 29 March: women’s singles quarterfinals/men’s singles 4th round/doubles
• Wednesday 30 March: women’s and men’s singles quarterfinals/doubles
• Thursday 31 March: women’s singles semifinals/men’s singles quarterfinals/doubles
• Friday 1 April: men’s singles semifinals/doubles
• Saturday 2 April: women’s singles final/men’s doubles final
• Sunday 3 March: men’s singles final/women’s doubles final 

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