Mboko, Raducanu book places in Indian Wells third round

Victoria Mboko and Emma Raducanu kicked off the seeded action at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday, both living up to their billing by delivering straight-sets wins to reach the third round. No. 25 seed Raducanu eased past qualifier Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 6-3 in 1 hour and 22 minutes, but No. 10 seed Mboko had to come from 3-1 down in both sets to quell Kimberly Birrell 6-4, 7-6(5).

Indian Wells: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Reigning Montreal champion Mboko and former US Open champion Raducanu could potentially meet for the first time in the fourth round this fortnight. Mboko will next face No. 23 seed Anna Kalinskayaz, while Raducanu will have to get past either No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova or Anna Blinkova.

Seeded here for the first time since 2022, Raducanu produced a pair of brilliant backhand winners to break Zakharova in the second game and stamp her authority on the contest. Landing 72% of her first serves and winning 75% of those points, the Briton did not face a break point until midway through the second set, and dropped her serve just once -- when serving for the match at 5-2. That blip was brief: in the next game, she came up with a terrific forehand pass and a short, angled slice en route to breaking Zakharova for the win.

By contrast, Mboko had her hands full with Birrell. The Australian, who reached her second semifinal of the year in Austin last week, signalled her intention of taking the match to the Canadian from the word go, hammering a forehand winner on the 12th stroke of the first point. For the next hour and 41 minutes, Birrell's rock-solid rally tolerance, superb anticipation in defense and easy power off both wings enabled her to go toe-to-toe with Mboko.

Playing her first match as a Top 10 player and making her tournament debut -- for context, she was ranked No. 188 this time last year -- Mboko had to come up with moments of magic to get the better of Birrell. She rose to the occasion magnificently: among her most memorable winners were a clever drop shot-pass combination to break back for 3-3 in the first set, and a forehand hammered down the line in the third game of the second set. Overall, Mboko tallied 24 winners, double Birrell's total of 12.

Less positive for Mboko was a sprinkling of ill-timed double faults. Though she only committed five in the match, three came down break point in the second set, forcing her to play catch-up throughout it. But the 19-year-old passed that test, too, demonstrating impeccable match management to come through a narrowly-contested home stretch.

With Birrell serving for the match at 6-5, Mboko ended a 22-stroke lung-buster of an opening point with a clean forehand winner en route to forcing a tiebreak. Once there, the danger of a momentum shift loomed again as Mboko lost four straight points from 4-1 up. But at 5-5, she withstood a series of heavy blows from Birrell before using her backhand to turn defense into attack in just a couple of swings. An errant backhand from Birrell enabled Mboko to get over the line on her first opportunity.