Sixth-seeded Amanda Anisimova rallied from a set right down to defeat Anna Blinkova and advance to the third spherical of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Friday night time. The American, aiming to succeed in her first remaining this season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, will subsequent face Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu for a spot within the spherical of 16.
Blinkova, ranked No. 94 on the earth, gained a topsy-turvy first set 7-5 that featured seven breaks of serve. Anisimova recovered to storm by way of the following two sets, successful the ultimate 9 video games of the match to shut out a 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 victory in a single hour, 39 minutes.
While each gamers landed the same share of first serves (68.4% for Anisimova and 67.6% for Blinkova), the American gained a better share of factors on each her first and second serves. Anisimova gained 69.2% of her first-serve factors and 41.7% of her second-serve factors, in contrast with 52.1% and 17.4% for Blinkova.
The win snapped a three-match shedding streak for Anisimova at this occasion and improved her head-to-head report in opposition to Blinkova to 2-0.
Anisimova is taking part in within the Indian Wells foremost draw for the seventh time. Her greatest outcome got here in her debut look in 2018, when she reached the spherical of 16 earlier than shedding to Karolina Pliskova.
To match that outcome this 12 months, she might want to defeat Raducanu within the subsequent spherical. The Brit earlier recorded a snug 6-1, 6-3 win over Anastasia Zakharova in one other second-round match on Friday.
Raducanu holds a 2-1 edge over Anisimova of their profession conferences, all of which got here in 2025 on laborious courts. The Brit gained their second-round match at the Australian Open and their fourth-round clash in Miami Open, whereas Anisimova gained their most up-to-date assembly – a round-of-32 match in Montreal.
