Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday defeated Madison Brengle under lights at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, while Shelby Rogers and Sloane Stephens also advanced from the first round of the women’s singles.
Hsieh resisted a late comeback by Brengle to win 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) in a tiebreak after 1 hour, 23 minutes, firing 22 winners and breaking Brengle’s serve six times.
She faces No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the second round.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium are to open their women’s doubles campaign tomorrow Taiwan time against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and Amanda Anisimova of the US.
Rogers beat Anhelina Kalinina 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, while Stephens outlasted Heather Watson 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-1 in their opening matches.
Rogers and Stephens were joined by fellow American Madison Keys in advancing. Keys beat Kaia Kanepi, 6-0, 7-5.
Stephens won seven of 18 break points. She raced to a 5-0 lead in the third set before Watson held, then served out the win. Watson had seven aces and seven double faults on the hard courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California.
The main draw of the men’s singles was to begin after press time last night.
Three-time major champion Andy Murray and four-time major champion Kim Clijsters received wild cards into the event.
Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open, and runner-up Leylah Fernandez are also entered.
However, the combined ATP and WTA tournament is missing some of the sport’s biggest names, including men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic and women’s No. 1 Ash Barty.
Also out on men’s side are Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, while the women’s draw is missing Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.
Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka said she that tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in the desert and is in isolation.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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