Serena out-guns Victoria, Wawrinka advances
INDIAN WELLS: Serena Williams out-gunned Victoria Azarenka 75, 6-3 in an electrifying clash of former World No 1’s on Friday to reach the third round at Indian Wells.
The two raised the temperature on a cold, windy night in the California desert, trading shots from every corner of the court before Serena wrapped things up after two hours and 17 minutes.
She finished it off in style, with a pair of unreturnable serves.
“It was really good for me to kind of fight through that, because literally I had to fight for every point,” Serena said.
“She deserved to win,” Victoria said. “She played better on those important moments. I felt that every game was ad, deuce, ad, deuce. It was all about who was going to take that chance, and she took them a little better today.”
In the third round Serena faces another former World No 1, Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion who breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over American Lauren Davis.
Elsewhere on Friday, World No 2 Simona Halep eased into the third round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Czech veteran Barbora Strycova.
Simona, who lifted the Indian Wells trophy in 2015, fired 18 winners and converted six of 11 break point chances to set up a thirdround meeting with Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 winner over 31st-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.
But there was more misery for World No 4 Sloane Stephens, who was unceremoniously bundled out by Swiss qualifier Stefanie Voegele 6-3, 6-0.
“I didn’t play well,” Sloane said. “It was unfortunate that I lost the second set 6-0. It happens.”
Meanwhile three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka made a triumphant return to Indian Wells on Friday, rallying for 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over British qualifier Daniel Evans to reach the second round.
It was a rematch of Wawrinka's four-hour, five-set victory over Evans in the third round of the 2016 US Open — where the Swiss would go on to claim his third Grand Slam crown.
"He's always a tough player to play, for sure," Wawrinka said.
In other first-round matches, German Peter Gojowczyk defeated Italian Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-4 to set up a second round meeting with fourth-seeded Roger Federer, who is coming off a remarkable 100th career title in Dubai.
Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin beat Spain's Jaume Munar 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to advance to a meeting with eighth-seeded American John Isner and Aussie qualifier Alex Bolt also advanced with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Ernests Gulbis.
American Jared Donaldson defeated Japan's Tatsuma Ito 63, 7-5 to set a second-round showdown with second-seeded Rafael Nadal. France's Adrian Mannarino will take on sixthseeded Kei Nishikori after beating American Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.