Emma Raducanu set for huge rankings boost after Indian Wells progress

Emma Raducanu’s decision to play in elite level tournaments has been questioned since her return to the WTA Tour in January, yet she has justified her approach after making it through to the third round at the WTA 1000 event at Indian Wells.

Raducanu advanced into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after her opponent Dayana Yastremska retired injured after just four games.

Raducanu had made a flying start and led 4-0 in the opening set when the Ukrainian 30th seed appeared to suffer an abdominal injury.

She immediately called for the physio but could not carry on, handing the Briton the win.

Raducanu may well have been victorious anyway had the match lasted the course as she looked impressive in the play that was possible.

She broke Yastremska’s serve in the opening game with a sublime drop shot and then showed grit to save a break point in her first service game.

A second break came courtesy of a strong backhand before a routine service hold put her in control.

It was in that game that Raducanu won to love that Yastremska suffered the injury and it forced a second retirement against the former US Open champion in two meetings.

Raducanu now looks set to meet second seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the third round, which will test exactly where the 21-year-old is in her comeback from an injury-ravaged 2023.

The win was a welcome boost to Raducanu’s WTA ranking, as she is defending points collected from her run to the fourth round of this competition in 2023.

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The points that dropped off her ranking from this tournament in 2023 have now been given a boost after Raducanu dropped out of the top 300 in the world in the live rankings.

Now she is back up to No 287 in the live rankings and she will leap back into the top 250 in the world if she upsets the odds and makes it through to the fourth round for a second successive year.

There have been plenty of questions over why Raducanu is playing top tier tennis tournaments as she makes her way back to the top of the game.

“It’s not really going for the jackpot playing these events,” Robson told Tennis365.

“She played very well in some of the matches she had this year and she clearly feels her level is good enough to challenge at these tournaments, so why not go for them?

“If it doesn’t go well, then you can go back to the drawing board and maybe enter a few lower tournaments.

“If the opportunities are there to pick up very big points without too many match wins without winning too many matches, you have to take them.

“The way the points work, you could win two WTA 250 tournaments or have a run at a WTA 1000 event and you basically get the same number of points for your ranking. If I were here, I’d be playing the same tournaments.”

The defeat in Doha appears to have focused Raducanu’s mind over what comes next, yet Robson is convinced there are good times ahead for the British star.

“She is competing really well and ever in the matches she has lost, she has been right in them,” added Robson.