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Emma Raducanu bounced in straight sets at Indian Wells

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US Open champion Emma Raducanu is out at Indian Wells after falling to Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-4 on Friday night.

The 18-year-old entered the BNP Paribas Open as a wild card recipient, marking only her fifth appearance at a tour-level event.

Following the loss, Raducanu put her lack of experience into perspective: “I mean, I’m 18 years old. I need to cut myself some slack.”

Friday’s defeat, Raducanu says, serves an important lesson for her growth as a player.

“I’m still very, very new to the tour. I think that experience just comes from playing week in, week out and experiencing all these different things. I’m kind of glad that what happened today happened so I can learn and take it as a lesson, so going forward I’ll just have more experienced banked.”

Raducanu’s fellow US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez also took the court in Indian wells, defeating Alizé Cornet 6-2, 6-3 in her main-draw debut. The 19-year-old will next face No.9 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the tournament’s third round.