Top seed Maria Sharapova launched her defense of her Indian Wells title on Friday, winning in straight sets but not before Michaella Krajicek made her earn it.
The 19-year-old Russian hammered 29 winners but looked rusty in making 50 unforced errors and served 10 double faults in the one hour, 44 minute second round match.
Sharapova did not speak after her match telling tournament organizers she was too ill.
PHOTO: AFP
But she did release a statement through her agent Max Eisenbud saying, "I'm just happy to get through the match because it is the first time I have played in four weeks."
Sharapova will meet France's Nathalie Dechy in the third round who surprised Italian 31st seed Flavia Pennetta 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2.
Sharapova won Friday's first set in a tie break but she needed three challenges of bad line calls to beat Krajicek 7-5.
Her final challenge came on a kick serve that was called out by the linesman which was changed to an ace to get Sharapova to set point.
Sharapova committed nine of 10 double faults in the first set before settling down and finding her serve in the second.
Martina Hingis breezed through her opening match by beating Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 6-3.
With the victory, the 1998 Indian Wells champion Hingis books a third round date with Austria's Yvonne Meusburger who rallied to beat Roberta Vinci 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The 96-player men's draw kicked off on Friday with former World No 1 Gustavo Kuerten seeing his comeback cut short, losing 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in a first round match to Juan Martin del Potro.
Kuerten, who has battled chronic hip problems since winning the last of his three French Open titles in 2001, said the disappointment of losing the first set in a tie-break got to him.
"I had my chances but instead I got frustrated and couldn't get it going," Kuerten said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was