Serena Williams vs. Sloane Stephens: Score, Reaction from 2015 Indian Wells

Serena Williams' headline-grabbing return to the Indian Wells Masters she boycotted for years featured adversity of the pure tennis variety in Tuesday's fourth-round match against Sloane Stephens.

After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker to the young American upstart, Williams roared back to close out Stephens with ease for a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win.

This triumph puts Williams through to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open, where she'll take on Timea Bacsinszky.

Erik Gudris surveyed the scene once Williams secured the victory:

Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times observed how resilient Stephens was in her own right just to saddle Williams with a deficit:

TennisTV's graphic does a fine job illustrating what plagued Williams in the opening set, as she had an uncharacteristic plethora of unforced errors:

Howard Bryant of ESPN.com described how Stephens began to fizzle after mounting a ton of momentum to start the match:

Once the ball got rolling in Williams' direction, she ran with it. Tennis reporter Douglas Robson documented the continual downward spiral Stephens experienced at the dawn of the decisive set:

Bryant almost seemed to dig into Stephens for not playing with more purpose or urgency:

Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated noticed how Williams took steps to stay away from the spotlight before she eventually had to stage a rally in the heat of competition, which may have contributed to her slow beginning:

There is some history to suggest Stephens could have pulled off the upset—and some to call her collapse from a mile away.

Stephens defeated Williams at age 19 in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Australian Open. As much talent as Stephens possesses and her knack for raising her game in Grand Slam events, though, she still hasn't won a WTA singles title.

Prior to the match, Stephens didn't seem at all intimidated by her legendary adversary.

"She's the No. 1 player in the world and she's a competitor, and that's it," said Stephens, per Bryant. "She's a competitor. She's -- what do you call it? She's, you know, when you work with someone? A colleague. There you go. She's a colleague."

The New York Times' Christopher Clarey provided a tweet early on that proved prescient as a predominant theme:

Williams herself heaped praise on Stephens' potential afterward:

While the pre-match mentality she expressed is commendable, this latest loss has to sting for Stephens.

It's yet another setback in what's been a frustrating young career, but Stephens clearly has the ability to compete with Williams when everything is clicking. The key is to find consistency, something Stephens evidently still needs to master.

Whoever Williams' forthcoming opponents are, she managed to overcome a rather poor serving day to top a formidable, skilled foe in Stephens. Based on the heckling history she's channeled into positive energy thus far at Indian Wells, it's hard not to view Williams as the prohibitive favorite to take the title.

Note: Stats and match information courtesy of WTATennis.com unless otherwise noted.