World number one Iga Swiatek proved too good for 32nd seed Bianca Andreescu as she emerged victorious 6-3 7-6 (7-1) in Monday's third round at the Indian Wells Open.

Swiatek started shakily as her serve was broken in the first game of the match, and although she got it back instantly, both competitors ended up creating eight break point opportunities each in a closer-than-expected match.

She will meet England's Emma Raducanu in the fourth round after the resurgent 20-year-old collected her best win of the year, defeating 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1 2-6 6-4.

Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, has begun to work her way back up the rankings. Having come into the tournament ranked 77th in the world after an injury-riddled season, she has now won four of her past five matches, with her only loss in that span coming against world number six Coco Gauff at the Australian Open.

World number five Caroline Garcia was pushed to a third set for the second match in a row, but prevailed 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 6-1 against Leylah Fernandez, booking a clash against Romania's Sorana Cirstea after she won 6-3 6-1 against fellow unseeded competitor Bernarda Pera.

Karolina Muchova kick-started a great day for the Czech Republic representatives as she got the better of Italy's Martina Trevisan 6-4 3-6 6-4, and Marketa Vondrousova kept it going with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 victory over world number four Ons Jabeur.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is shaping up as a threat to win it all, yet to drop a set this week following her 6-3 7-5 triumph over Paula Badosa.

Third seed Jessica Pegula rallied back from a set down for the second straight match to advance into the final 16 with a 3-6 6-4 7-5 victory over 26th seed Anastasia Potapova.

Potapova won the first set in 39 minutes, claiming the only break of the frame in the sixth game, but Pegula responded by breaking immediately in the second.

Despite squaring the match up, the American trailed 3-1 in the third set, only to fight back again and triumph in two hours and 17 minutes.

Pegula will face 15th seed Petra Kvitova after she won a seesawing three-set contest over 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko, 0-6 6-0 6-4.

Ostapenko won the first six games, before Kvitova won the next 10, only for the Latvian to hit back and claim the next four, squaring up the deciding set at 4-4. But two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova held her nerve and won the final two games for victory.

World number two Aryna Sabalenka progressed to the final 16 via walkover after her third-round opponent Lesia Tsurenko withdrew.

The 2023 Australian Open champion will take on 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova after she toppled Wang Xin 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-2.

Seventh seed Maria Sakkari secured victory in a two-and-a-half-hour third-round clash with Anhelina Kalinina, winning 3-6 6-2 6-4.

Two-time major runner-up Karolina Pliskova won 6-1 7-5 over Veronika Kudermetova, progressing into the last eight to face Sakkari.

Sixth seed Coco Gauff, who turns 19 on Monday, eased past 54th-ranked fellow teenager Linda Noskova 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 19 minutes.

Sweden's Rebecca Peterson continued her resurgent form with a 3-6 6-3 6-1 win over Jil Teichman, setting up a clash with Gauff.

Emma Raducanu recognises her young career has been dogged by "back luck", but it is all worthwhile having experienced the "good fortune" of her US Open title win.

Raducanu, who is still only 20, won at Flushing Meadows as a qualifier in 2021 – a grand slam first in the Open Era.

However, the British number one has not been past the second round of a major since, with that victory over Leylah Fernandez in New York remaining her only final appearance at any WTA Tour event.

A succession of injuries have hampered Raducanu, who played only 34 matches in 2022 and had been restricted to just four this year ahead of the Indian Wells Open.

Raducanu has beaten Danka Kovinic and Magda Linette in straight sets in California, however, for her first back-to-back wins since the Korea Open in September – the last of those also coming against Linette.

Even in winning on Saturday, Raducanu required treatment for an apparent wrist injury, although she described the problem as "manageable".

It was put to the luckless Raducanu afterwards that she might be well served employing "somebody to sweep the whole area around you for black cats and stray ladders", yet she has come to terms with her misfortune.

She said with a smile: "Sometimes you wonder, like, how is this possible? But then very quickly I think you create your own luck.

"It works both ways. I won the US Open as well, and I think I also have to take the bad luck sometimes, because also good fortune has also come upon me.

"I think that I wouldn't trade that title for the world. I'm just prepared to take whatever it takes, knowing that I have that in the bank."

Asked about her mood after winning consecutive matches, Raducanu said: "I just feel good with the way I'm working with my team, not getting too overly pleased or too down.

"I'm just plodding away. I feel pretty good about how things are going."

Raducanu faces Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 13th seed, in round three.

Top seed Iga Swiatek spurned the chance for a double-bagel victory over Claire Liu at the Indian Wells Open on Saturday but she still cruised into the third round in 66 minutes.

The 21-year-old Pole, who won last year's Indian Wells, had match point at 6-0 5-0, before Liu rallied back on serve to avoid the ignominy of a double-bagel defeat, with Swiatek eventually winning 6-0 6-1.

Swiatek was in a dominant mood, winning 57 of 83 points for the match and converting five of nine break points generated. She dropped only 11 points in seven service games.

The three-time grand slam champion is 13-3 on the season, with all 13 wins coming in straight sets. In five of those matches, she has dropped just one game.

Former US Open winner Emma Raducanu moved into the third round with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 win over 20th seed and 2023 Australian Open semi-finalist Magda Linette.

Raducanu's win meant she has put together back-to-back victories for the first time since September, setting up a clash with 13th-seed Beatriz Haddad Maia after she beat Katerina Siniakova 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Fourth seed Ons Jabeur fought back from a set down to prevail over Magdalena Frech 4-6 6-4 6-1 in one hour and 44 minutes.

Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu also overcame an early deficit to win 4-6 6-4 6-3 over Peyton Stearns.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina got the edge in a tight two-set clash with 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin, triumphing 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and 10 minutes. Rybakina fought back from 4-1 down in the second frame.

Fifth seed Caroline Garcia overcame a wobble to win 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 over Hungary's Dalma Galfi, with 30th seed Leylah Fernandez her next opponent after beating Emma Navarro 6-2 6-4.

Two-time major winner and three-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka was the big casualty from the day's play, losing 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 to 2021 Australian Open semi-finalist Karolina Muchova.

Aryna Sabalenka showed exactly why she is ranked second in the world as she dominated her opening match of the Indian Wells Open on Friday against Evgeniya Rodina.

Belarus' Sabalenka needed just 66 minutes to defeat the Russian 6-2 6-0, taking advantage of her first-round bye to book her spot in the third round against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.

Tsurenko had to come from behind against the in-form Donna Vekic, fresh off her Monterrey Open title last week, but that big effort may have had the Croatian with heavy legs as she ran out of steam 2-6 6-2 6-2.

It was a strong day for the Ukranians as 27th seed Anhelina Kalinina beat the Czech Republic's Linda Fruhvirtova 4-6 6-4 7-5, and she will next face Greece's Maria Sakkari.

Sakkari, the seventh seed, had to deal with adversity after a poor first set against Shelby Rogers, coming back to win 2-6 6-4 6-0.

Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic lost her Swiss showdown against Jil Teichmann 3-6 6-3 6-3, while Veronika Kudermetova got the better of her Russian compatriot Anna Blinkova 6-3 6-4.

The second-highest ranked American in the field, Coco Gauff, had no issues dispatching Spain's Cristina Bucsa 6-2 6-4. But it was tougher work for America's top hope Jessica Pegula as she was pushed all the way by recent Merida Open champion Camila Giorgi, before prevailing 3-6 6-1 6-2.

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu enjoyed a winning return to the court on Thursday as she defeated Danka Kovinic 6-2 6-3 in the first round of the Indian Wells Open.

It was the 20-year-old's first match since her second-round exit in January's Australian Open, and she had to respond to some early adversity after Kovinic broke her opening service game.

But the Brit answered right back, rattling off four games in a row to take control of the first set, and the second frame was nearly a carbon copy, falling down 2-0 before putting together five unanswered games of her own.

Meanwhile, world number 31 Danielle Collins – the highest ranked player in the draw to not receive a seed – was a surprise early elimination as Hungary's Dalma Galfi got the better of her 6-4 6-4. As a reward, Galfi will meet world number five Caroline Garcia in the second round.

Nuria Parrizas-Diaz set up an all-Spanish second-round clash with Paula Badosa after beating Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3 7-5, but fellow Spaniard Rebeka Masarova fell short 4-6 6-4 6-4 against American Peyton Stearns.

It was a great day for the Czech Republic representatives, with Katerina Siniakova earning a 7-5 6-4 over Julie Niemeier, Marketa Vondrousova dominating Rebecca Marino 6-2 6-2, and Karolina Muchova completing the hat-trick against Yulia Putintseva 6-3 4-6 6-4.

As good of a day as it was for the Czechs, it was just as poor for the Italians, with Lucia Bronzetti falling 7-5 4-6 6-3 to Bernarda Pera and Jasmine Paolini eliminated 7-5 6-1 at the hands of Tatjana Maria, joining Cocciaretto on an early flight home.

Emma Raducanu has revealed the wrist injury which ended her 2022 season has returned, though she remains hopeful of playing at the Indian Wells Open.

Raducanu saw her 2022 season cut short by a problem with her right wrist, while a bout of tonsillitis caused her to miss last week's Austin Open.

The 2021 US Open winner was seen practising with strapping on both wrists on Wednesday, ahead of Thursday's Indian Wells opener against Danka Kovinic.

Asked about her fitness, Raducanu told BBC Sport: "The same issue that I had last year has started to flare back up.

"I've definitely been managing my load. It's something that has just come back, so I'm trying to be as cautious as possible. I'm going to do everything I can to be there tomorrow."

Raducanu's recent struggles with tonsillitis represented the latest setback of a year in which she has played just four competitive matches, and the 20-year-old has been frustrated by her lack of time on court. 

"It affected me badly for the short term, so I haven't prepared much. I've probably never felt so sick in my life," Raducanu reflected. 

"When it rains, it pours. This [the wrist injury] and the infection… it's obviously a challenge. My preparation hasn't been ideal. I played on the weekend and then I rested it. It's how you manage things when you aren't prepared."

Last week's ATX Open champion Marta Kostyuk was bundled out in the Indian Wells Open first round by last month's Merida Open runner-up Rebecca Peterson on Wednesday.

The Swedish qualifier, who reached her first WTA final in four years in Merida having had her 2022 derailed by injury, triumphed 7-5 5-7 7-5 over the Ukrainian world number 40 in almost three hours.

Kostyuk, ranked 40th in the world, was not helped by 17 double faults across the match, with Peterson progressing to the second round where she will face 22nd seed Zhang Shuai.

Alize Cornet was also a surprise first-round loser, going down 6-2 7-5 to 427th-ranked Evgeniya Rodina in one hour and 42 minutes.

Rodina's prize for her shock victory is a second-round date with 2023 Australian champion and second seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Camila Giorgi, who beat Peterson for the aforementioned Merida Open crown last month, won through with a routine 6-3 6-3 victory over Arantxa Rus. Giorgi will next face third seed Jessica Pegula.

World number 41 Shelby Rogers was pushed for two hours and 22 minutes by Katie Volynets but triumphed 6-4 4-6 6-1. Rogers will take on seventh seed Maria Sakkari in the second round.

China's Wang Xin, making her Indian Wells debut, defeated former world number 12 Elise Mertens 6-3 6-1, while world number 33 Zhu Lin was downed by Lesia Tsurenko 6-4 6-3.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich won 6-3 7-6 (7-5) over veteran Kaia Kanepi, while 53rd-ranked Linda Fruhvirtova fought back after copping a bagel to win 0-6 6-2 6-3 over 52nd-ranked Mayar Sherif.

Jil Teichman set up a second-round clash with Swiss compatriot Belinda Bencic after a 6-1 6-4 victory over Ashlyn Krueger.

Andy Murray expects Russian and Belarusian players to feature at Wimbledon in 2023, though he understands if the ban is upheld.

Last year, players from both nations were prevented from participating following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ban resulting in Wimbledon being stripped of ranking points.

Additionally, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) was fined £1.4million by the ATP and WTA due to players being excluded.

It is yet to be announced whether the ban will remain in place for this year's competition, though Murray expects there to be no such limitations.

"It's a really difficult one and I do feel for the players who weren't able to play last year – but I also understand the situation and why it's really hard for Wimbledon to make a call on it as well," he told BBC Sport.

"My understanding is that they are going to be allowed to play and I'm not going to be going nuts if that is the case.

"But if Wimbledon went down another route, I would be understanding of that."

Murray's comments came at Indian Wells, where he faces Tomas Etcheverry on Thursday, with the potential of an all-British affair against Dan Evans or Jack Draper in the third round.

Evans and Draper will face off in the second round if the latter beats Leandro Riedi, while Murray would have to defeat Etcheverry and Pablo Carreno Busta to set up a tussle with either of his compatriots.

But Murray insists he is not looking that far ahead.

"To be honest, I don't really care that much. Obviously, I can see why it's interesting, and if Evo [Evans] plays against Jack I'll be interested in the match," he added.

"But I'm not particularly bothered by it and for me it's not going to impact me until the third round. I need to get there and this is not always a tournament where I have played amazingly."

Novak Djokovic's absence from the Indian Wells Open has caused a stir in US politics, and on the tennis court it is hugely significant, too.

Sport was given a jolt three years ago when Indian Wells organisers cancelled the event on the eve of action getting under way, citing one local case of COVID-19.

At that point, on March 8, 2020, there had been more than 500 confirmed cases across the United States, with 21 deaths. Soon enough, events across the globe were being postponed or scrubbed.

Coronavirus travel restrictions prevented the unvaccinated Djokovic from taking part last year, and they will keep him away again this time, despite calls from two Florida senators for the jab requirement to be lifted by President Biden to allow the Serbian into the country.

With the world number one sidelined, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz look likely challengers for the men's title. There have been surprise champions in recent times, with Cameron Norrie winning in 2021 and Taylor Fritz carrying off the title 12 months ago, so it would be hasty to rule out something similar.

In the women's event, there has not been a successful title defence since Martina Navratilova won in 1990 and 1991. That can partly be attributed to Serena and Venus Williams boycotting for over a decade at the peak of their powers after complaining of facing racial abuse, and in their absence no player stepped up to dominate.

Iga Swiatek triumphed in Indian Wells and Miami last season, racking up the 'Sunshine Double', and she starts as a strong favourite again, but defeat in the recent Dubai final to Barbora Krejcikova showed the 21-year-old rankings leader will not have everything her way this season.

First-round action gets under way on Wednesday, after two days of qualifying, and here Stats Perform, with Opta data, looks at what lies ahead.

After Norrie and Fritz, could there be another shock men's winner?

Djokovic has won a joint-record five Indian Wells titles, but he last featured in 2019, when he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in round three.

Rafael Nadal is also absent this time with a hip injury, and with Roger Federer retired this will be the second Indian Wells main draw since 2000, after 2021, to feature none of the ATP Big Three.

The Big Three was a Big Four at one point, though, and Andy Murray will be competing. It is one of the two Masters 1000 tournaments Murray has never won, along with Monte Carlo, having triumphed at the other seven. Murray has the most match wins at Indian Wells among all men competing this time, having 28 to his name, two more than John Isner who sits next on the list.

No ATP player has a better win percentage at Indian Wells than Djokovic (84.7 per cent), who has won 50 of his 59 matches, while the now-retired Federer has appeared in the most finals (nine), also winning five times, so there is no doubt the field is missing its long-time classiest acts.

Fritz last year became the first men's champion aged under 25 years old since Djokovic in 2011, and he was also the first American to take the men's title since Andre Agassi beat Pete Sampras in the 2001 final.

Medvedev has won three consecutive tournaments in the lead-up this year, tearing to titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, but the Russian has a disappointing record at Indian Wells, having yet to reach the quarter-finals in five visits.

Just four players this century, including Alcaraz last year, have reached the semi-final stage before turning 20, with Nadal, Djokovic and Murray the other three. Alcaraz is still only 19 but a shade older than Boris Becker when he was a 19-year-old champion in 1987, the youngest men's winner.

Who else might come through? It feels like a free-for-all and Felix Auger-Aliassime will be hoping for a breakthrough tournament, with the Canadian being the only member of the current ATP top 10 to have never reached a final at ATP 1000 level. It has to happen sooner rather than later, surely.

Swiatek bids to lift curse of women's champions

Ever since Navratilova's two in a row, being a back-to-back champion at Indian Wells has been beyond all singles players on the WTA side.

Indeed, the only players to reach the final the year after their title run have been Lindsay Davenport (champion 1997, runner-up 1998) and Ana Ivanovic (champion 2008, runner-up 2009).

Nine women have won twice at Indian Wells, but none have managed three or more titles. The nine are: Steffi Graf, Mary Joe Fernandez, Navratilova, Daniela Hantuchova, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka, Davenport and Maria Sharapova.

A Swiatek victory would make it a club of 10, but there is a club of one when it comes to players who have captured two titles without dropping a set in either trophy run. Sharapova is the only player to pull off that feat, with her 2006 and 2013 glory runs.

Among all women, Davenport has reached the most finals (six) and won the most matches (47), with Azarenka having the most wins among active WTA players (34).

Navratilova remains the oldest champion, having won aged 34 in 1991, while Martina Hingis and Serena Williams won as 17-year-olds in 1998 and 1999.

Shocks can happen: Bianca Andreescu took the title as a wildcard in 2019, while Jenny Byrne reached the final as a qualifier in 1989, the first year the women's event was staged.

If there is to be a teenage women's finalist this time, maybe it will be Coco Gauff. The American turns 19 midway through the tournament, on March 13, and has yet to reach a WTA 1000 final, although she got to the French Open title match last year, where Swiatek inflicted a heavy defeat.

Perhaps Aryna Sabalenka can reprise her Australian Open form, having won a first major in Melbourne. But Sabalenka's record in Indian Wells is a rough one, with the Belarusian yet to go past the fourth round.

Strap in for a thrill ride. They all want to stop Swiatek, but if any player can defy history it might just be the Pole.

Donna Vekic stamped her red-hot start to 2023 with her first title of the season, defeating world number five Caroline Garcia 6-4 3-6 7-5 in the Monterrey Open final on Sunday.

Vekic, 26, has now won 14 of her past 16 matches dating back to New Year's Eve, and she dropped only two sets through her five matches in Mexico this week. She also made the 2023 Australian Open quarter-finals, losing to eventual winner Aryna Sabalenka.

The Croatian grabbed the early break to control the first frame, and when serving for the set, Vekic showed grit to fight back from a 40-0 deficit and save three break points en route to securing the opener.

She kept her momentum rolling into the second, breaking and consolidating to jump ahead 2-0, but the response from France's Garcia showed why she was the WTA Finals champion last season, rattling off five games in a row.

But Vekic showed no signs of slowing down, and Garcia was forced to save eight break points to keep the third set level, before the dam finally broke at 6-5 to prevent a tiebreaker.

It was the fourth title of Vekic's career, but only her second since 2017, having snapped a four-year drought at the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open.

Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk lifted her first WTA singles trophy after defeating Russia's Varvara Gracheva 6-3 7-5 in Sunday's ATX Open final.

Kostyuk only needed to beat one seeded opponent en route to the title, eliminating fourth seed Danielle Collins in the semi-final to set up a showdown against the 22-year-old ranked 88th in the world.

In an incredibly back-and-forth first set, eight of the nine games went against serve, including five consecutive breaks to begin the match, with the 20-year-old Kostyuk's lone hold good enough to take the lead.

With both players competing in their first final at this level, the nerves were apparent, as they combined for eight double faults in the opening set and another six in the second.

It was Gracheva pulling ahead 5-3 as she tried to force a decider, but after saving a set point, Kostyuk broke back to make it 5-5, and rattled off the final four games of the match to claim the title.

Coming into the tournament ranked 52nd in the world, Kostyuk will surpass her career-best mark of 45th when the next set of rankings are released.

Marta Kostyuk is through to her first WTA singles decider after defeating Danielle Collins 6-4 6-3 in Saturday's ATX Open semi-final.

Ukraine's Kostyuk prevailed in a closely contested battle against the highest seed remaining in the field, taking the only break of the first set after saving four Collins break points the game prior.

The two women traded breaks to begin the second set, but the 20-year-old Kostyuk was too strong down the stretch, winning five of the final six games.

It will also be the first WTA-level final for her opponent, with unseeded 22-year-old Russian Varvara Gracheva overcoming American Katie Volynets 6-4 5-7 6-4.

The two-and-a-half-hour clash was tight all the way through, with Gracheva only narrowly edging the total point count 101-94.

Meanwhile, down south of the border at the Monterrey Open, world number five Caroline Garcia won her semi-final against Elise Mertens 6-3 6-4.

The reigning WTA Finals champion will have a chance to collect the 12th singles title of her career, and her first of the season, when she meets Croatia's Donna Vekic in the final.

Vekic, the third seed, emerged the 7-5 6-2 victor against China's Zhu Lin, continuing a red-hot run of form that has seen her win 13 of her past 15 matches dating back to New Year's Eve.

Caroline Garcia is now three wins away from her first title of 2023 after defeating Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3 6-2 in Thursday's second round of the Monterrey Open.

France's Garcia, the world number five and top overall seed, needed just 63 minutes to see off her Spanish challenger. She controlled the contest with her serve, taking the ace count eight to two while winning 75 per cent of her total service points (33-of-44).

She will now face Egypt's Mayar Sherif in the quarter-final after the seventh seed survived a tough 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 test from China's Wang Xinyu.

Fourth seed Elise Mertens emerged the 6-3 3-6 6-2 victor against Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse, while rising 22-year-old Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto prevailed 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) against Germany's Tatjana Maria.

North of the border in Austin's ATX Open, Danielle Collins ripped off a 67-minute 6-1 6-1 drubbing of Caty McNally to advance to the quarter-final.

Collins will meet Russia's Anna Kalinskaya next after the 24-year-old's convincing 6-3 6-1 victory over veteran CoCo Vandeweghe.

Eighth seed Marta Kostyuk is one of only three seeded competitors remaining after storming home in a 6-3 3-6 6-0 battle with Madison Brengle, and Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam won the longest match of the day in a 7-5 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (10-8) three-hour war of attrition against 18-year-old Russian Erika Andreeva.

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