Iga Swiatek continued her good form following her Australian Open disappointment, with the world No. 1 defeating American Danielle Collins in straight sets at Indian Wells. There was no such luck for Ons Jabeur, who was dumped out by Katie Volynets in straight sets. Elsewhere, Angelique Kerber continued her comeback in professional tennis with a three-set victory over Jelena Ostapenko.
Iga Swiatek defeated Danielle Collins 6-3 6-0 on Friday to reach the third round of Indian Wells in California.
Swiatek had enjoyed some recent good form after beating Elena Rybakina to lift the Qatar Open trophy, before losing in the semi-finals at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The pair were tough to separate in the opening stages as the game went with serve, but at 3-3 Swiatek had to defend a break point to avoid losing control of the first set.
The Polish player then hit back to move 5-3 up with a break of her own, before holding to claim the first set.
Collins, who reached the quarter-finals in Qatar, immediately fell behind in the opening game of the second set, and Swiatek raced into a 4-0 lead before bagelling for the second set.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko was upset by Angelique Kerber, who netted perhaps the biggest scalp since her return to professional tennis, winning 5-7 6-3 6-3 to reach the next round.
The former world No. 1 is ranked outside the top 500, and will now play the winner of No.17 seed Veronika Kudermetova in the next round after her 6-1 7-5 win over Nao Hibino.
Yulia Putintseva knocked out 15th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets 7-5 6-1 as Alexandrova struggled severely with her serve as she was broken six times, and served up 10 double faults.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3 6-1 in a routine 6-0 6-2 win.
Caroline Wozniacki advanced into the third round with a 7-6 (5) 6-3 win over Donna Vekic.
The 2018 Australian Open winner made to work hard in a gruelling opening start, as the Croatian broke her serve in the opening game of the match.
Wozniacki broke back immediately though, as neither player gave much away in a keenly-contested opener, before the Dane claimed a pulsating first set after an hour of play.
The second set was more straightforward for the 33-year-old, as she broke Vekic twice more and wrapped things up on her first match point.
She will now face Katie Volynets on Sunday, following the American’s stunning 6-4 6-4 win over 2023 Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur.
The Tunisian was well below par and faced an uphill challenge after losing on her serve three times to go a set down at 6-4 after 48 minutes of play.
Volynets broke Jabeur again once more in the second set, while the world No.131 gave very little away for the Tunisian to exploit in a commanding performance on her own serve.
Play was finished as the 22-year-old won with her first match point in the tenth game with a hold to 30.
The round-of-32 matches take place on Sunday.
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