Agnieszka Radwanska came back from 2-5 in the third set to overcome Dominika Cibulkova in three sets. Radwanska fended off a match point while serving at 2-5 as Cibulkova netted a forehand return and won five consecutive games en route to clinching a dramatic win by 6-3 3-6 7-5.
Radwanska won six of nine previous head-to-head matches against Cibulkova but the Slovakian player won clinched three of their past five matches, including the Australian Open semifinal in 2014.
Affter three consecutive breaks Radwanska got the decisive break for 5-3 and earned the first set point which she converted to clinch the first set 6-3. Cibulkova came back by running away with the second set before breaking twice in the third set. Radwanska won a marathon sixth game to recover one of the two breaks.
Radwanska saved a match point at 2-5 before breaking back in the next game. Radwanska broke serve again for 6-5 with a backhand down the line return winner and closed out the match as Cibulkova made consecutive errors from 30-30 in the final game.
“Playing Dominika in the second round is obviously the toughest draw I could have. She doesn’t have the ranking she should. She is definitely a top-20. I am so happy I could come back in that third set and win the match”, said Radwanska.
Radwanska will take on Monica Niculescu in the third round. Radwanska leads 2-1 in her three head-to-hed matches against the Romanian player including a straight set win in Doha last month.
Lesia Tsurenko beat this year’s Dubai champion Sara Errani 6-4 6-3. There were three breaks of serve in the first three games. Tsurenko was the first to hold her service game and took a 3-1 lead. In the fifth game Errani rallied from 15-40 to save two double break points. At 4-2 Errani recovered from 0-40 but failed to convert five break points in a very long game. The Italian player broke back in the 8th game to love with a drop-shot but she dropped her serve. From 4-4 Tsurenko won 8 of the next 10 points to clinch the first set by 6-2.
Tsurenko got a double break in the third game and in the fifth game of the second set to win five consecutive games from 0-1 to open up a 4-1 lead. Errani got one of the two breaks back at 1-5 but Tsurenko broke serve to 15 at 5-3 after Errani made a double fault at 15-30.
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova overcame Danka Kovinic 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5). Kvitova, who won just two of her first eight matches this year, converted her fifth break point chance in the sixth game. Kovinic broke straight back as Kvitova made two double faults. Kvitova got another break to close out the first set 6-3.
In the second set Kvitova and Kovinic traded breaks twice. In the 8th game Kvitova faced a break point after a series of unforced errors but managed to hold her serve. Kvitova made her sixth double fault to drop the second set.
Both players held their serve in the first six games of the decider when Kvitova faced only one break point. Kvitova got the first break of serve in the seventh game. The Czech player was broken back as she was serving for the match at 5-4. The third set came down to the tie-break. Kvitova got a mini-break but she made a double fault to drop her serve. Kvitova earned the first match point at 6-5 and converted it as Kovinic hit drop-shot into the net.
Kvitova has never advanced the quarter final stage in her six appearances at Indian Wells.
Jelena Jankovic, last year’s finalist and 2010 champion at Indian Wells, cruised past Carina Witthoeft from Germany 6-1 6-3 setting up a third round match against Coco Wandeweghe who beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-3.
Defending champion Simona Halep swept aside Vania King 6-1 6-1. The Romanian star had a difficult start to her season in which she won just three of her eight matches.
The match started with three breaks of serve (two for Halep and one for King) in the first three games. Halep broke serve twice more to clinch the opening set 6-1 in just 27 minutes. Halep broke serve in the second game of the second set to cruise to 3-0 and did not face a single break point on her service games. Halep got her sixth consecutive break with a forehand passing shot. King got her first game on the scoreboard after a hard-fought fifth game with her down the line backhand but Halep closed out the match in just 52 minutes after winning all her return games. Halep will face Ekaterina Makarova in the next round.
Qualifier Nicole Gibbs defeated Madison Keys 6-3 6-3. Yulia Putintseva beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-4 to reach the third round in a Premier Mandatory Tournament for the first time in her career. Jaroslava Schvedova upset Number 11 seed Lucie Safarova 6-4 6-4.
