Harriet Dart upsets Elina Svitolina to reach Indian Wells third round for first time
The victory also marked the British qualifier’s first win against a top 20 player
Harriet Dart rallied from a set down at Indian Wells to defeat former world number three Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and progress to the third round for the first time in her career.
The 12th-seeded Ukrainian broke the Briton four times in the opening set at the BNP Paribas Open before Dart steadied herself in the second.
The British number three, ranked 122nd, managed to break Svitolina three times consecutively to lead 5-3 then smashed a crucial ace to claim the set.
Dart rushed out to a 3-0 lead in the decider but Svitolina scraped back some points before the match – which took two hours and 17 minutes – finished 2-6 6-3 6-3 in the qualifier’s favour.
Kaia Kanepi will face Dart next after the Estonian needed just 81 minutes to upset 22nd seed Belinda Bencic 6-4 6-3.
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Liam Broady, meanwhile, failed to progress past the first round despite taking a set off Miomir Kecmanovic.
The Serbian has now won both his encounters against Broady following the 6-4 4-6 6-4 encounter in California on Friday.
Earlier, Emma Raducanu progressed with a three-set win over former world number four Caroline Garcia and Andy Murray showed all his famed fighting qualities as he shrugged off a nightmare first set to beat Taro Daniel and lift the Scot alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in earning 700 tour-level victories.
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