Qualifiers Laura Siegemund of Germany and Kurumi Nara of Japan set up matches against the Williams sisters with first-round victories on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open.
Today, Siegemund is due to face world No. 1 Serena Williams, while Nara is scheduled to play 10th seed Venus Williams.
Nara beat Teliana Pereira of Brazil 6-1, 6-2, while Siegemund topped Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Photo: AFP
World No. 35 Begu was the highest-ranked player in action on the opening day, with all 32 of the seeded players receiving first-round byes.
The first round of the men’s singles is to begin today.
The other over 30s fared better, with world No. 36 Lesia Tsurenko, No. 37 Barbora Strycova and No. 38 Coco Vandweghe all posting straight-sets wins.
Tsurenko of Ukraine beat Timea Babos of Hungary 7-5, 6-4; Strycova of the Czech Republic rolled over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-1, 6-3; and Vandeweghe, who makes lives in Southern California, was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.
Qualifier Nicole Gibbs of the US routed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, 6-1, 6-0, while Vania King beat qualifier Taylor Townsend 6-2, 6-3, in an all-American battle.
British wild-card Heather Watson rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the first set to beat Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-1.
Americans Alison Riske and Irina Falconi dropped out.
Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic defeated Riske 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, while Carina Witthoeft of Germany rallied to top Falconi 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.
In the first round of the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and partner Liang Chen of China fell 6-4, 6-1 to Margarita Gasparyan of Russia and Monica Niculescu of Romania in just 67 minutes.
The Russian-Romanian duo saved three of four break points and converted five of eight, winning 57 of the 97 points contested, while the cross-strait pairing paid a heavy price for their seven double faults and miserable 44 percent success rate on their first serves.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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