Sloane Stephens beats Heather Watson in marathon match at Indian Wells opener

(Tennis news) In the women’s singles, former US Open champion Sloane Stephens defeated Heather Watson in a three hour match. This is Sloane’s third victory over Heather as she last faced her five years ago at Miami. Sloane came close at the first set tiebreak but in the next two sets played her best to proceed to the next round where she will face 19th seed Jessica Pegula. Sloane defeated Heather 6-7( 5-7), 7-5, 6-1.

 

Hsieh Su-wei also secured a victory over Madison Brengle with her unconventional drop shots and double handed strokes. She broke Madison in the opening game and raced away to take the first four games and went on to win the set. In the second set which saw many dropshots and volleys by Hsieh as she was down to two games to love but fought back to make it even. Madison broke Hsieh in the most athletic fashion possible as she kept chasing the ball without a doubt and broke to make it five all. Hsieh finally secured the victory in a tiebreak as Madisons’ backhand failed to cross the net. Hsieh defeated Madison 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

 

Madison Keys proved to be a scare for  Kaia Kanepi as she won the first nine games of the match leaving Kaia to lose the set in fifteen minutes but learned her lesson and came back strong in the second set. Kaia was down to 1-3 in the second set but brought back the game to level it five all and with the final run Madison completed an emphatic victory. Madison defeated Kaia 6-0, 7-5.

 

Alizé Cornet made short work of qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse even though she committed 11 double faults on her way to victory. Cornet had five double faults in the first set but that didn’t stop her from taking control of the rallies as Ruse struggled to win points. In the second set, Ruse improved on her returns as she began to pick on Cornet’s second serve and put up a good fight against the former world number 11. Cornet eventually won the third set in a close tie break to set up a match with US Open runner up Leylah Annie Fernandez. Cornet defeated Ruse 6-3, 7-6(7-5).

 

In women’s doubles, 6th seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Hayley Carter had a short match against Kaitlyn Christian and Erin Routliffe. Gabriela and Hayley defeated Kaitlyn and Erin 6-4, 6-4. Zhang Shuai and Sania Mirza will face Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara in their opening match at Indian Wells.

 

Also read: Kim Clijsters returning after a decade, Emma Raducanu keen to make a mark again at Indian Wells

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