American Women Enjoy Success on Day Two in Indian Wells
The second day of the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells was kind to the American women, as four of the five Americans in action on Thursday won their first-round matches.
In a tightly-contested all-American contest, Taylor Townsend edged Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5. The 18-year-old fired seven aces and gave herself 20 break point chances, notching five of them to push past Mattek-Sands and into the second-round. Towsend will play Australia’s Samantha Stosur next.
Madison Brengle, ranked 46th in the world, was the highest-ranked American to play Thursday, cruised past China’s Saisai Zheng 6-3, 6-0 to push through. Brengle took advantage of a poor serve from Zheng, breaking five times as she won in just one hour and eight minutes. Brengle draws a matchup with Italy’s Flavia Pennetta.
Ranked 55th, Lauren Davis handled Slovakia’s Anna Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-2 to move into the second-round. The 18-year-old, who beat Victoria Azarenka at Indian Wells last year, will look to take down another former champion here when she plays 18th seeded Jelena Jankovic next.
New Jersey’s Christina McHale got past Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the second round. McHale only won 12 more points than Cetkovska, but captured two more break points to pull away in each set. McHale draws a matchup with 24th-ranked Alize Cornet of France in the next round.
In other scores from Thursday, Kirsten Flipkens ousted American Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-4; Lesya Tsurenko disposed of Annika Beck 6-1, 6-3; Roberta Vinci came back from a set down to beat Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; and Yanini Wickmayer took out Karin Knapp 6-1, 7-5.
Click here to follow all the action from Day Three in Indian Wells.
