Concerns continue for the British No. 1 Emma Raducanu as she suffered another exit without making it to the final eight in a WTA tournament. She entered the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells as the 25th seed, receiving a bye in the first round match. After a dominant win in her first match, she bowed out against the sixth seed, Amanda Anisimova.
Following the tough loss, the Briton expressed her feelings, talking about the elite level of performance by the American.
Emma Raducanu Praises Amanda Anisimova’s Performance After Tough Indian Wells Loss
Anisimova defeated Raducanu 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets on Sunday, March 8, delivering one of the cleanest scorelines of the entire night. She needed just 54 minutes to end the WTA 1000 campaign of the top-ranked British woman, thanks to her high efficiency on serves and her trademark power.
The World No. 6 made her intentions clear from the very first game of the match, breaking Raducanu three times in the first set to take it 6-1 in just 27 minutes. In the second set, the Briton could not find her rhythm again, as she was broken twice, and the American closed out the match 6-1, 6-1.
After the match, Raducanu talked about the defeat, praising Anisimova, saying, “I think today against Amanda, it was difficult to even kind of come close to putting my stamp on the match. And I think also that goes with playing Amanda, she’s that type of opponent who likes to put her stamp on it first, and that was very evident today.”
However, looking at the positive side, she added, “Obviously, you have to take some positives. The first match here was better than a lot of the matches I’ve been playing recently, but yeah a match like that is never easy to take afterwards.”
‘A match like that is never easy to take’
Emma Raducanu reacts after defeat to Amanda Anisimova at Indian Wells 💠pic.twitter.com/j1Xfyu2g5F
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) March 9, 2026
Raducanu reflected on a series of early exits at multiple tournaments this year, starting with the Hobart International, where, despite being the top seed, she lost to the unseeded Taylah Preston in the quarterfinals after receiving a walkover in the Round of 16. She then lost in the second round of the Australian Open against unseeded Anastasia Potapova before retiring in Doha in her first round match.
She then lost her first match in Dubai against lucky loser Antonia Ružić in three sets. One thing to note here is that she made a deep run at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca in early February, where she lost against Sorana Cîrstea in the final. This marked only the fifth time Raducanu reached a WTA semifinal in her career, a statistic that shocked the tennis legend, Boris Becker.
Raducanu committed three double faults without hitting a single ace, while landing only 56% of her first serves. What’s even more concerning is that she won just 27% of those points, while Anisimova won 86% of her first-serve points, which made the difference in the match.
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Anisimova did not even face a single break point, while she broke her opponent five out of the seven times. She also won 72% of the match’s total points, which is just a testament to the incredible form she has been in since last year.
The American will now face the Canadian teenager, Victoria Mboko, in the Round of 16 match, with the 19-year-old holding a slight edge (51%) according to PFSN’s exclusive interactive simulator.
