Del Potro Defeats Stepanek in the First Round at Indian Wells
Juan Martin del Potro defeated Radek Stepanek, 6-4, 6-0, in the first round of the BNP Parisbas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. del Potro missed a majority of last year recovering from a wrist injury and eventual surgery last May, winning 14 of 18 matches upon his return this year. Currently ranked 90th in the ATP, del Potro plummeted from the number five spot in 2009 to 257th at the close of 2010. He moves on to face Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the second round of action.
In other action at Indian Wells, Russian Dinara Safina advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Arantxa Parra Santonja from Spain. Also moving on was American Donald Young with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Italian Potito Starace.
Also advancing on the men’s side were Ryan Sweeting, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, Victor Hanescu of Romania, Micheal Berrer of Germany, Somdev Devvarman of India, Rainer Schuettler of Germany, Xavier Malisse of Belgium, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, Mischa Zvervev of Germany, Richard Barankis of Lithuania and Rik De Voest of South Africa.
On the women’s side, those advancing to round two include Americans Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens, Elena Baltacha of Great Britain, Roberta Vinci of Italy, Urszula Radwanska of Poland, Simona Halep of Romania, Shuai Peng of China, Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, Agnes Szavay of Hungary, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, Sofia Arviidsson of Sweden, Laura Pous-Tio of Spain, Shaui Zhang of China, Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Iveta Benasova of the Czech Republic.
