World No. 3 Karolina Pliskova battled back to beat Olympic champion Monica Puig 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Friday, but said that she would have to do better to go further at Indian Wells.
“I don’t even think I deserved to win tonight,” third-seeded Czech Pliskova said after recovering from a break down in the third set to reach the third round.
Puig, ranked 43rd in the world, had never taken a set off Pliskova in three prior meetings.
Photo: AFP
However, she was on fire from the baseline early, breaking the big-serving Czech four times in the opening set.
Pliskova was in trouble again in the decisive set, down one break at 0-3, but won six of the final seven games to advance, despite 34 unforced errors to just 19 winners.
“Hopefully I can get something from it and move on and play better next time,” said Pliskova, who is aiming to improve on her semi-final run at Indian Wells last year.
In other second-round matches, 17-year-old American Kayla Day shocked Australian Open semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to earn a clash with French Open champion Garbine Muguruza.
Day outlasted the 35-year-old Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, rallying from a break down in the third to advance.
Lucic-Baroni served for the match in the final set, but the young American kept her nerve.
“It was a really close match throughout the entire match,” Day said. “I think I started to really believe I could win at 6-5 in the third. It was still a really tough game, because I was a little bit tight to close it out, but my serve had been giving her a lot of problems, so I knew if I stuck to my game it might work out.”
Day was looking forward to the challenge offered by seventh-seeded Muguruza, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Belgian veteran Kirsten Flipkens.
Johanna Konta beat Heather Watson 6-4, 6-4.
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