Raducanu, Zverev ousted at Indian Wells

The Briton, 19, who stormed to an unlikely title as a qualifier at Flushing Meadows last year without dropping a set, served for the match at 5-4 in the third

US Open champion Emma Raducanu suffered another disappointment Sunday, bowing out in the third round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters in a 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-5 loss to Petra Martic. The Briton, 19, who stormed to an unlikely title as a qualifier at Flushing Meadows last year without dropping a set, served for the match at 5-4 in the third. 

But the 13th seed couldn’t muster a match point and lost the next three games, a string of forehand errors spelling the end of her challenge in a final loss of serve. It’s just the latest setback for Raducanu, who was ousted in the second round of the Australian Open in January.  She was the top seed at Guadalajara last month when a hip injury forced her to retire from her first-round match. 

Alexander Zverev

In seven tournaments since her US Open triumph, her best run was into the quarter-finals of the Transylvanian Open in October. Martic next faces 28th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova, a 6-4, 6-7 (7/4) winner over Danka Kovinic.

Meanwhile, World No.3 Alexander Zverev crashed out of the ATP Indian Wells Masters, stunned in his opening match 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2) by 39th-ranked American Tommy Paul.  In other early matches, men’s seventh seed Andrey Rublev won his second-round opener against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-4.

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