In Wednesday’s first-round match, former Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie defeated Luca Nardi 6-0 6-3 to begin his quest for a second Masters title in California.
The 29-year-old easily defeated Nardi, winning 6-0 6-3 in just 64 minutes. He won the Indian Wells title in 2021, his first and only ATP 1000 victory to date.
Norrie defeated a struggling Nardi, serving six aces and winning 88% of points behind his first serve, banishing the demons from his humiliating defeat to the young Learner Tien in his first match in Acapulco a few weeks ago.
In his first set of the tournament, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist secured a bagel thanks to his Italian opponent’s unforced errors and double faults. In the second set, he only needed one break to love before converting his first match point.
Despite the fact that the Czech player won their most recent meeting in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open, Norrie has a 2-1 head-to-head lead over 23rd seed Jiri Lehecka, who he will face in the second round.
In other events on the first day, Camila Osorio defeated Naomi Osaka and Varvara Gracheva in the first round, respectively. Osorio’s victory made her the first Colombian to defeat a former world number one since the WTA Rankings were instituted in 1975.
By defeating Clervie Ngounoue 6-4 7-6[7], Victoria Azarenka also recorded her 159th WTA 1000 hard-court victory, surpassing Caroline Wozniacki for the most all-time.
Is Emma Raducanu playing at Indian Wells today?
On Thursday night UK time, after the initial round of first-round matches, Emma Raducanu will start her quest for fame against Moyuka Uchijima in the opening ties.
Three British fighters are competing on the second day, including Raducanu, who is attempting to set up a thrilling second-round matchup with Coco Gauff. Later on Thursday, lucky loser Sonay Kartal will take on Varvara Lepchenko.
The winner of the men’s draw matchup between Jacob Fearnley and Brazilian teenage wild card Joao Fonseca will face the 13th seed in an all-British second round matchup.
After Irina-Camelia Begu defeated Ann Li, Draper’s fellow British number one Katie Boulter will also begin her Indian Wells campaign on Friday.