Andy Murray wins opener; Raducanu ousted

INDIAN WELLS: Former world No. 1 Andy Murray of Great Britain eliminated tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open here. The Scot will next play Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, the US Open quarterfinalist this year, for a spot in the third round.

"It's been four years since I was last here. I think it's one of the best places to play tennis on Tour," Murray said.

"It's been a tough road to get back and it was so nice that so many people managed to come out and support today. I really enjoyed it," Murray told atptour.com.

Murray was the talk of social media in recent days, as he enlisted the fans' help in finding his missing tennis shoes and wedding ring. After retrieving the items, the 34-year-old returned his attention to the tournament, where he beat his lefty opponent in one hour and 24 minutes.

The three-time major champion did not face a break point until the last point of the match. Mannarino often proves a difficult customer with his flat groundstrokes, but Murray never appeared out of his comfort zone.

World No.100 Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus ended Emma Raducanu's 10-match winning streak, defeating the reigning US Open champion 6-2, 6-4 in the second round. Sasnovich will face 2015 champion Simona Halep of the US for a spot in the Round of 16.

Coming into the second-round duel, Raducanu was riding a 10-match winning streak from her historic title run at the US Open, where she reeled off 20 consecutive sets through qualifying and the main draw to become the first British woman to win a major since Virginia Wade in 1977. In contrast, Sasnovich, who reached a career-high No.30 in 2018, had just one top-50 victory in a completed match this season.

No.7 seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic moved into the third round for the seventh time in her career with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.

Kvitova will next face No.27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, in an intriguing face-off between two-time Grand Slam champions. Kvitova leads the head-to-head 5-3.

Elsewhere, making her main draw debut, US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez defeated Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the third round, where she will face No.9 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Agencies