Undercooked Emma Raducanu beats Danka Kovinic at Indian Wells

A year and a half on from her US Open triumph, few things have come easily for Emma Raducanu on the court. The prospect of her body being able to handle the rigours of the tour still seems far away and the injuries continue to pile up.

But on Thursday afternoon in Indian Wells, Raducanu gave an impressive demonstration of her resilience and intelligence as she shrugged off her poor preparation, adapted to the gusty desert conditions and found a way through to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Danka Kovinic of Montenegro.

The first few months of the season have been far from ideal for Raducanu. After starting her year with an ankle sprain in New Zealand and then taking time off after the Australian Open, she was forced to withdraw from the ATX Open in Austin two weeks ago after contracting tonsillitis. In Indian Wells, while still recovering from her illness, Raducanu revealed that she is now suffering with the wrist problems that affected her at the end of last season, and as a result had spent minimal time on the practice court. “When it rains, it pours,” she told the BBC.

Even the match-up with Kovinic was a reminder of her physical frailty. In her only other meeting with the world No 62, at last year’s Australian Open, Raducanu was reduced to slicing her forehand for two hours after suffering from bad blisters, eventually losing in three sets.

In the typically windy, slow conditions of Indian Wells, Raducanu started the match trying to take enormous cuts at the ball and offering up ample unforced errors. She immediately fell 2-0 down, but quickly adapted to the wind by opting to play with more margin, throwing up loopy topspin balls, grinding out errors from her opponent and limiting