Emma Raducanu returns to competitive action against Moyuka Uchijima at the BNP Paribas Open, keen to move on from last month's events at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The British player reportedly considered skipping Indian Wells after a male spectator exhibited "fixated behaviour" in her round-two match with Karolina Muchova, but the one-time Grand Slam champion is back in action following that incident in Thursday's tournament opener against her Japanese opponent.
Match preview
© Imago
Raducanu's involvement in the third WTA 1000 event of 2025 was in doubt after a spectator's unsavoury behaviour towards her in Dubai, where she exited in the second round against eventual semi-finalist Muchova.
Despite falling to the Czech player 7-6(6), 6-4, the 22-year-old displayed admirable competitiveness in the match that lasted just over two hours.
Still, ending a four-match losing run by defeating Maria Sakkari in that event's first round was just what the doctor ordered for the former US Open champion, who entered the Middle East event after defeats to Iga Swiatek in Australia, Cristina Bucsa in Singapore, Marketa Vondrousova in Abu Dhabi and Ekaterina Alexandrova in Doha.
Although Raducanu begins this year's Indian Wells journey having lost five of her previous six matches on tour, the improvement on serve against Sakkari and Muchova in Dubai stands the Brit in good stead after struggles on her deliveries since the opening Major of 2025.
A positive 6-4 record in the Californian desert, where her previous two losses came against Aryna Sabalenka (2024) and Swiatek (2023), should boost the 22-year-old's confidence heading into her tournament-opening contest against Uchijima.
© Imago
While the 2021 US Open champion is favourite to improve her recent 5-2 win-loss record (6-4 overall) in the desert, with the winner facing Coco Gauff, she must avoid looking far ahead before facing her Japanese opponent, who has more recent match experience.
The 23-year-old player came through qualifying in Dubai and defeated Doha finalist Jelena Ostapenko in the opening round before falling to Elena Rybakina in the round of 32.
Uchijima was then involved in Austin last week, even if she exited early against Anna Blinkova in three sets, losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to the Russian.
Despite her early exits in the main draw in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Austin, the world No. 52 has significantly more competitive match experience than Raducanu (16 matches to eight) heading into their second WTA Tour match-up, having competed in qualifying before the tournament proper in the Middle East events.
Keen to positively impact her Indian Wells debut, Uchijima, whose current ranking is her career high, aims to take out a former world No. 10 in the desert to set up a second-round meeting with Gauff.
Head To Head
Seoul (2022) - Round of 32: Raducanu 6-2 6-4
The only previous match-up between the two women was three years ago in Seoul, where Raducanu triumphed in straight sets.
Despite landing just 46.2% of her first serves in that encounter, the British player won 70.8% of points on those deliveries and faced just three break points, losing serve once.
In contrast, Raducanu broke Uchijima five times in that match-up, and the 22-year-old hopes to be as ruthless in the desert.
We say: Raducanu to win in two sets
Given the improvement on serve in Raducanu's most recent matches against Sakkari and Muchova and the enhanced rally tolerance in the latter match-up, the British player is expected to improve her 6-4 record at Indian Wells, where the former US Open champion has not exited in her opening match since 2021.
