Indian Wells Tennis 2019: Early Scores and Results from Thursday
March 7, 2019
Venus Williams secured her place in the second round of the 2019 BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California on Thursday with a three-set win over Andrea Petkovic.
Elsewhere, Kristina Mladenovic set up a meeting with defending champion Naomi Osaka after she beat Zheng Saisai in straight sets in her opening match.
In the men's draw, Great Britain's Cameron Norrie suffered defeat to 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime. The young Canadian goes on to meet Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
Also through in the men's draw are Philipp Kohlschreiber, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Ivo Karlovic, while Mischa Zverev is out after defeat to Martin Klizan.
Thursday's Early Results
Men's Singles
Felix Auger Aliassime bt. Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-2
Philipp Kohlschreiber bt. Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-0
Elias Ymer bt. Chris Harrison 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2
Martin Klizan bt. Mischa Zverev 6-1, 6-4
Ilya Ivashka bt. Guido Andreozzi 7-6 (3), 6-4
Albert Ramos-Vinolas bt. Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-2
Ivo Karlovic bt. Matthew Ebden 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3)
Women's Singles
Venus Williams bt. Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 0-6, 6-3
Alison van Utyvanck bt. Alison Riske 7-6 (1), 6-4
Ekaterina Alexandrova bt. Rebecca Peterson 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Misaki Doi bt. Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-3
Mona Barthel bt. Lin Zhu 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5
Natalia Vikhlyantseva bt. Priscilla Hon 6-1, 6-1
Yulia Putintseva bt. Timea Babos 6-1, 6-3
Kristina Mladenovic bt. Zheng Saisai 7-5, 6-2
Madison Brengle bt. Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-3
Full results are available from the tournament's official website.
Thursday Early Recap
Williams set up a second-round clash with 2019 Australian Open finalist Petra Kvitova after a roller coaster win over Petkovic on Thursday.
The first set saw both players trading breaks of serve, and the American took it 6-4 despite calling out the trainer before she served for the set:
The second set was all Petkovic, who did not face a single break point as she raced to a bagel against a sluggish Williams:
The 38-year-old then came flying out at the start of the third set. She broke Petkovic straight away to take an early lead, and she forced her opponent into mistakes with her powerful ground strokes.
Williams served for the match at 5-2 but allowed Petkovic back into it. A double-fault and two forehand errors in a row saw the German break for 5-3.
Petkovic looked set to force Williams to serve for the match again, but two mistakes handed it to the American:
It was an impressive win for Williams, as she clearly had to overcome physical problems during a lengthy match that lasted one hour and 45 minutes.
The former World No.1 made it all the way to the semi-finals last year but faces a real battle to progress any further in the tournament with Kvitova up next.
Teenager Auger-Aliassime maintained his fine form with a comfortable victory over Norrie.
The 18-year-old is the youngest player in the men's draw and is flying high after he reached his first ATP Tour final in Brazil two weeks ago.
The Canadian made a fast start to the match, winning the first three games in just eight minutes.
He did not drop serve once throughout the match and saved the only two break points Norrie was able to force.
Auger-Aliassime was also clinical when it came to taking opportunities on Norrie's serve:
It took the teenager just 62 minutes to wrap up the win, and he'll get the chance to test himself against Tsitsipas for the first time in his professional career.