Emma Raducanu: Meet the world No 52 facing Brit in Indian Wells Round 1
The Indian Wells draw is out, and all eyes are on a potential round two clash between WTA stars Emma Raducanu and Coco Gauff.
However, while third seed Gauff has received a bye into the second round, Raducanu must earn her place with an opening-round victory in the desert.
And it won’t be easy for the Brit against world No 52 Moyuka Uchijima, who is three places above the Brit in the WTA Rankings.
Rapid rankings rise
Uchijima is currently at her WTA career-high after an impressive 15 months that has seen her climb over 125 places in the WTA Rankings.
The Japanese made her WTA Tour singles debut in 2022, and while she was unable to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam, consistency elsewhere saw her finish the year as the world No 105.
Though she made her Grand Slam main draw debut as a wildcard at the 2023 Australian Open, losing in round one, that season proved challenging for the 23-year-old.
Uchijima fell 76 places to world No 181 by the end of 2023, though she proceeded to soar up the WTA Rankings in 2024.
She was beaten in Australian Open qualifying but won a Grand Slam singles match for the first time at Roland Garros and reached round two of the US Open, alongside making her Wimbledon debut.
Uchijima also represented her country at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and made her WTA 1000 main-draw debut at the Canadian Open, and would later play in both Beijing and Wuhan.
With five titles on the ITF World Tour to her name in 2024, Uchijima had risen to world No 56 by the end of 2024 – a leap of 125 spots from the end of 2023.
The highlight of Uchijima’s 2025 season so far was her run at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she came through qualifying to beat Jelena Ostapenko in round one, before a loss to Elena Rybakina.
2025 has also seen the Japanese reach the second round of the Australian Open for the first time and come through qualifying at the Qatar Open.
She is currently the Japanese No 1, ranked four places ahead of Naomi Osaka.
Doubles success
Uchijima has yet to make a WTA final in singles, but the 23-year-old has found some success in doubles in recent months.
Alongside Guo Hanyu, she won her first WTA title at the Jiangxi Open last November, defeating Katerzyna Piter and Fanny Stollar 7-6(5), 7-6 in the final.
She had reached her first WTA final just two months previously at the Hua Hin Championships partnered with Eudice Chong, falling to Anna Danilina and Irina Kromacheva.
Though she has never won a WTA singles title, she has won 13 singles titles at ITF level since 2019.
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Indian Wells debut
This will be Uchijima’s first-ever appearance in Indian Wells, having never previously played the tournament in singles or doubles.
In contrast, this will be Raducanu’s fifth straight appearance at the prestigious WTA 1000 event in California.
The Brit made her event debut in 2021, shortly after her US Open win, and her best showing to date is a round-four appearance in 2023.
Previous clash
This will not be the first meeting between Uchijima and Raducanu, though it will be their first clash in two-and-a-half years.
They previously faced off at the 2022 Korea Open, with Raducanu picking up a 6-2, 6-4 Japanese victory in Seoul.
Uchijima is much-improved since then, and the close proximity of their respective rankings suggests this could be a tight encounter.
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