Indian wells: Osaka, Raducanu, Wozniacki through; Venus the odd one out

INDIAN WELLS, March 8

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Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu and Caroline Wozniacki reached the second round of the Indian Wells while former world No. 1 Venus Williams was heading for victory before losing the last 10 games to Japan’s Nao Hibino.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka, who returned to the tour in January after a maternity break, fell behind 2-1 in the first set to qualifier Sara Errani. But the Japanese player settled in from there, using her power to push the Italian around the court and won 10 of the final 11 games to advance 6-3 6-1.

Former US Open champion Raducanu beat Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova 6-2 6-3 earlier in the day to set up a second-round clash with 30th seed Dayana Yastremska. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams looked poised for a win leading 6-2 3-2 before Hibino turned the tables for a 2-6 6-3 6-0 win.

On the men’s side, Gael Monfils crushed Australian Max Purcell 6-1 6-2, while Stan Wawrinka fell 7-6(3) 4-6 6-2 to Tomas Machac. — Reuters

Lucky loser Nagal falls at first hurdle

Melbourne: Sumit Nagal was handed a straight-set defeat by Canada’s Milos Raonic in the opening round, bringing a swift end to the Indian tennis player’s campaign after he made the main draw as a ‘lucky loser’ due to Rafael Nadal’s pull-out. Nagal, who is ranked 101st in the ATP charts, went down 3-6 3-6 in a match that lasted one hour and 28 minutes.