Emma Raducanu is confident she will recover from a stiff back to be fully fit for Miami next week after struggling with the issue in her exit at Indian Wells.
The tournament No11 seed had edged out a three-set win in her opening round against Caroline Garcia but came unstuck 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 against Petra Martic in the US last night.
Raducanu had missed her previous tournament in Mexico with a hip injury, which had cast doubts over her participation in the early US hardcourt part of the season.
And following the defeat to Martic, she said she had struggled with a back issue as she trained to get back to form and fitness.
“I think it’s just part of not playing and having so much stop start and having five, six days to prepare for matches and then playing at that intensity,” she said. “It was a tough one not being able to serve full out so I was having to work so hard just to hold.
“I’ve just got to get stronger. I’ve had it for the last few days, just a product of training hard and probably the last match was pretty intense too and it didn’t settle down.
“When you are crossing your fingers to hold serve every time, it’s tough. I couldn’t really drive up and I was kind of struggling to turn and reach. The margins were so small. I should be good for Miami, for sure.”
Andy Murray also bowed out of the event with a 7-6, 6-3 loss to No31 seed Alexander Bublik but there was better news for Harriet Dart, who sprung a surprise in knocking out Australian Open quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi in three sets.
Dart, who had come through qualifying to make the main draw, beat the Estonian 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 to edge towards the world’s top 100 for the first time in her career.
