Emma Raducanu needs three wins to avoid big ranking drop after Indian Wells

Britain’s tennis star Emma Raducanu has a big task ahead of the Indian Wells competition. The mega-event began in California on Wednesday where players from all over the world will battle it out to secure the ultimate prize.

Raducanu was awarded a wild card entry into the mega-event, largely because of her impressive performance last year where she was eventually knocked out after losing in the fourth round.

However, the 21-year-old now has a big job at hand as she must win at least the first three rounds in order to ensure having a spot in the top 300 women’s players in the singles category. If she fails to do that, she will drop out of the top 300 players in the women’s singles rankings.

Her journey is unlikely to be an easy one. She will face Spain’s qualifying player Rebeka Masarova in the round 128 clash on Thursday but her third-round potential opponent can be the current world number two Aryna Sabalenka who is amongst the favourites to lift the title.

It will be interesting to see how Raducanu will perform in the event as she suffered some very disappointing results ever since making a return to the court after a lengthy injury layoff.