Indian Wells Tennis 2015 Results: Scores, Bracket and Schedule After Friday
With every passing day, the names get bigger at the 2015 BNP Paribas Open and the stakes get higher. Friday brought second-round action on the women’s side, including Serena Williams' first appearance at Indian Wells since 2001, and first-round action on the men's side.
The biggest names on the men’s side will take the court for the first time over the weekend after first-round byes.
With that in mind, here is a look at scores and more from Friday’s slate at the BNP Paribas Open.
Scores and Schedule Information
| Men's Singles | Alexandr Dolgopolov | Frank Dancevic | 6-2, 7-5 |
| Men's Singles | Michael Berrer | Victor Estrella Burgos | 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 |
| Men's Singles | Donald Young | Pablo Carreno Busta | 6-3, 6-4 |
| Men's Singles | Martin Klizan | Pablo Andujar | 7-6, 6-3 |
| Men's Singles | Steve Johnson | Marcel Granollers | 6-2, 6-3 |
| Men's Singles | Sergiy Stakhovsky | Sam Querrey | 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 |
| Men's Singles | Igor Sijsling | Filip Krajinovic | 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 |
| Men's Singles | Simone Bolelli | Thomaz Bellucci | 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 |
| Men's Singles | Malek Jaziri | Tatsuma Ito | 7-5, 6-1 |
| Men's Singles | Robin Haase | Alex Bolt | 6-4, 6-2 |
| Men's Singles | Jack Sock | Yen-Hsun Lu | 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 |
| Men's Singles | Denis Istomin | Austin Krajicek | 7-6, 6-4 |
| Men's Singles | Victor Hanescu | Mikhail Youzhny | 6-3, 6-4 |
| Men's Singles | Diego Schwartzman | Jerzy Janowicz | 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 |
| Women's Singles | Serena Williams | Monica Niculescu | 7-5, 7-5 |
| Women's Singles | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | Barbora Zahlavova Strycova | 6-3, 6-3 |
| Women's Singles | Ekaterina Makarova | Elena Vesnina | 6-4, 6-0 |
| Women's Singles | Agnieszka Radwanska | Alison Riske | 6-3, 6-1 |
| Women's Singles | Elina Svitolina | Alison Van Uytvanck | 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 |
| Women's Singles | Heather Watson | Camila Giorgi | 7-5, 7-5 |
| Women's Singles | Zarina Diyas | Donna Vekic | 6-3, 6-3 |
| Women's Singles | Timea Bacsinszky | Marina Erakovic | 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
| Women's Singles | Simona Halep | Daria Gavrilova | 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 |
| Women's Singles | Karolina Pliskova | Lara Arruabarrena | 6-3, 7-5 |
| Women's Singles | Svetlana Kuznetsova | Katerina Siniakova | 7-6, 6-2 |
| Women's Singles | Sloane Stephens | Angelique Kerber | 7-6, 6-2 |
| Women's Singles | Lucie Safarova | Mona Barthel | 6-4, 7-6 |
| Women's Singles | Garbine Muguruza | Irina Falconi | 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 |
| Women's Singles | Varvara Lepchenko | Sachia Vickery | 6-4, 6-1 |
An updated bracket can be found here courtesy of the event’s official website. A full schedule for both the men’s and women’s singles can be found here, also courtesy of the event’s official website.
Friday’s Marquee Result and Saturday’s Match to Watch
Serena Williams handled Monica Niculescu in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5, but it was about more than just the tennis Friday.
It was Williams' first appearance in Indian Wells since 2001 when she was booed during her championship match victory hours after her sister Venus withdrew from a match. As ESPN Tennis pointed out, it was certainly an emotional return to the venue:
"Serena Williams makes an emotional return to Indian Wells. Watch live on @ESPN3: http://t.co/pPQSZpiO7o pic.twitter.com/xV6wwzPX8A
— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) March 14, 2015"
Williams eventually settled in, although she received more of a challenge from Niculescu than many expected. Still, Williams' dominant serve was more than enough to win, as she racked up 13 aces to Niculescu's zero.
Despite not tallying a single ace, Niculescu stayed in the match by winning 68 percent of her first-service points, but it still wasn't enough to knock off the dominant Williams.
While Williams steamrolled her way to victory as the top seed on the women’s side, the top-ranked men’s player takes the court for the first time Saturday.
Novak Djokovic will square off with Marcos Baghdatis in the second round after Baghdatis beat Jiri Vesely in the first round (Vesely retired early in the second set). On paper, this should be a nice warm-up for Djokovic since he is a perfect 7-0 in his career against Baghdatis.
However, Baghdatis challenged Djokovic the last time they played in 2012 at the Miami Masters, although he eventually lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic cannot come out Saturday and expect to simply walk to victory given the way Baghdatis hung with him in their last match.
Still, Djokovic should have plenty of confidence for this match and the entire tournament since he won the 2014 title and enters as the defending champ. He knocked off Roger Federer in last year’s championship match.
Djokovic is also an impressive 14-2 on the 2015 season and battled his way to the Australian Open title with a thrilling, back-and-forth semifinals victory over Stanislas Wawrinka and a slightly easier four-set finals win over Andy Murray. That semifinals match went the full five sets and included a tiebreaker in the first, but Djokovic turned it on when it counted and won all six games in that final set.
He discussed his mindset heading into the BNP Paribas Open, via Shad Powers of The Desert Sun: "Of course the season starts a lot better for you if you win a Grand Slam in Australia. So I have a strong win in the bag and some confidence that I can carry into these two large tournaments Indian Wells and Miami and take it from there."
Djokovic lost in his last ATP tournament appearance in the championship match against Federer in Dubai, so he will look to re-establish some momentum Saturday.
Unfortunately for Baghdatis, he is the one standing in the way.
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