TENNIS – Heather Watson upset last year’s Indian Wells finalist Agniewska Radwanska with 6-4 6-4 scoring the first top-10 of her career. Last year Watson had lost to Radwanska in the second round at Indian Wells. Diego Sampaolo
Watson dropped her serve early in the opening set but she bounced back breaking twice. She closed out the opening set with an ace. She opened the second set with another break opening up a 2-0 lead. Radwanska broke twice to take a 4-2 lead. Watson Watson recovered winning the next four games before serving out the match to love. At 5-4 the British player served out to love to clinch the win.
“The match was up and down. I knew she was going to try and step up her game and play more aggressive.I just kept my head and stuck to my own game plan. I knew I would have to play extremely well and be just patient and pull the trigger at the right time”, said Watson.
Czech rising star Karolina Pliskova beat Garbine Muguruza 7-5 6-4. In a match between two aggressive players thee key was Pliskova’s ability to win the most crucial points. The first set went on serve until the 11th game when Pliskova got the decisive break before holding her serve for 7-5. Pliskova won 65 percent of her first serve points and hit nine aces. She earned two break points which Muguruza saved before clinching the match with a series of winners. Pliskova is the first player to win 20 matches on the WTA circuit this year.
Pliskova will take on Simona Halep in a mouth-watering third round match. Halep overcame a tough three-set match against Varvara Lepchenko with 6-1 3-6 6-1. After dropping the first set Lepchenko opened up a 4-1 lead in the second set en route to clinching the second set with 6-3. Halep ran away with a 6-1 win in the third set.
Serena Williams cruised past Zarina Diyas with 6-2 6-0 in her second match at Indian Wells where she is making her come-back after 14 years of absence. Diyas held serve to love in the opening game but Serena reeled off 12 of her 13 next games to advance comfortably to the third round where she will face Sloane Stephens who battled past Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 6-4. The match against Diyas was a total contrast to the emotional first round match against Monica Niculescu.
Serena leads 2-1 in her previous head-to-head matches against Stephens but they have not met since 2013.
Time Bacsinszky fought back from one break down in the second set and two breaks down in the third set to battle past Ekaterina Makarova 3-6 7-5 6-3 to extend her winning streak to 14 winning matches. Makarova broke serve twice and looked to be cruising to a easy win in the decider. Bacsinszky bounced back taking three breaks and wrapped the match on her second match point. The 25-year.old player has continued her successful season in which she collected 20 wins in 22 matches and clinched two back-to-back titles in Monterrey and Acapulco. She will take on Elina Svitolina in the next round. The Ukrainian player beat this year’s Doha champion Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 in one hour and 51 minutes. Both players traded breaks until the match csme down to the tie-break which Svitolina won with 7-5. Safarova broke early in the second set but Svitolina broke back. Safarova had to save two break points at 4-3. In the 12th game Svitolina clinched the win with her backhand return. Svitolina will take on Bacsinszky for the first time.
