Heather Watson, Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart win Indian Wells qualifiers, Emma Raducanu could face Dayana Yastremska

Published 08/03/2022 at 12:24 GMT

Heather Watson, Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart are all one win away from reaching the main draw at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. British No.1 Emma Raducanu will face either Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska or Caroline Garcia in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament, if she recovers from a leg injury. Naomi Osaka has been drawn against Sloane Stephens.

Heather Watson

Image credit: Getty Images

British trio Heather Watson, Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart all won their opening qualifying matches at Indian Wells.

British No.2 Watson, who made the last 16 of the WTA 1000 tournament in 2015, beat Rebeka Masarova 7-5 6-2 and will next face Mai Hontama for a place in the main draw.

Boulter battled to a 6-7(8) 6-4 6-4 win over sixth seed Xinyu Wang while Dart won 6-1 7-5 against Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.

ATP Rome

Are Nadal, Alcaraz, Djokovic playing Italian Open? When does it start?

20 hours ago

Boulter next faces former world No.5 Sara Errani while Dart plays Anastasia Gasanova.

British No.1 Emma Raducanu could face Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in the second round of the tournament.

Raducanu, who has a first-round bye, is hoping to be fit to play after a recent leg injury.

Yastremska made the final of the Lyon Open last week after fleeing Ukraine along with her 15-year-old sister. She faces Caroline Garcia in the first round.

Raducanu’s projected fourth-round opponent could be former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova, who is playing for the first time this year after recovering from a hand injury.

The standout match of the first round sees Naomi Osaka face Sloane Stephens.

Osaka, who won Indian Wells in 2018, who has not played on the WTA Tour since her third-round exit from the Australian Open.

Former US Open champion Stephens won in Mexico last month to claim her first title since 2018.

The main draw for the WTA 1000 event starts on Wednesday.

Billie Jean King Cup