‘I’d forgotten what that felt like’ – Andy Murray wins in straight sets

Former world number one Andy Murray eased into the third round at Indian Wells with his first straight-sets victory this year.

The Scot beat Moldova’s Radu Albot, who was trying to claim his 100th tour-level win, 6-4 6-3 in one hour and 42 minutes.

Murray had just 18 unforced errors to 35 for Albot, and never faced a break point on his serve while firing six aces.

Having won in straight sets for the first time since October, Murray tweeted: “I’d forgotten what that felt like. Bosh.”

The win set the Briton up to take on compatriot Jack Draper after the 21-year-old beat 24th seed Dan Evans 6-4 6-2.

Draper has lost just eight games through his first two matches of his Indian Wells debut.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek routed Claire Liu in 65 minutes to win her opening match on Saturday.

Swiatek, the defending champion who took over the number one ranking nearly a year ago, won 6-0 6-1.

Carlos Alcaraz, the second-ranked men’s player, defeated qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 6-3, Taylor Fritz, the defending men’s champion, rallied past Ben Shelton 4-6 6-4 6-3, while Jannik Sinner defeated Richard Gasquet 6-3 7-6 (2).

Emma Raducanu eased into the last 32 of the BNP Paribas Open with a 7-6 (3) 6-2 victory over Magda Linette.

Raducanu overcame injury doubts and illness to beat Danka Kovinic in her opener at Indian Wells, and the British number one had to call for a physio after battling back from an early deficit.

Poland’s Linette, 21st in the WTA rankings and 55 places higher than Raducanu, took the first break of the match for a 3-1 first-set lead.

But Raducanu fought back from 4-1 down to level at 4-4 before calling for a physio at 6-5 ahead.

Both players, somewhat bizarrely, lost their serve to love as the opening set went into overtime.

Raducanu won the tiebreak 7-3 to establish an advantage after 62 minutes on court.

The odds were stacked against Linette when Raducanu broke serve to lead 3-1 in the second set.

She comfortably closed out victory against this year’s Australian Open semi-finalist and will meet either Katerina Siniakova or Beatriz Haddad Maia in the last 32.