Teenager Stephens gets first WTA win at Indian Wells
Sloane Stephens got her first victory on the WTA Tour, beating Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday.
Stephens, who at No. 747 is the lowest-ranked player to win a main draw match at this event, led, 5-2, in the second set and had match point on serve in the ninth game, then had to rally from 3-6 down in the second-set tiebreaker.
“I wasn’t getting nervous,” said Stephens, one of two 16-year-olds in the tournament. “She started playing a lot more. Before, she was hitting a lot of balls off the court and I was waiting for the error. She made me play at the end.”
Stephens said she’ll remember hitting an ace down the middle of the court to get to 6-all in the second-set tiebreaker. She couldn’t recall the final shot of the match, though, but said “it was a good moment.”
Melanie Oudin, at No. 41 the highest-ranked American in the women’s draw, made another quick exit, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 to Roberta Vinci of Italy in their first-round match.
The 18-year-old Oudin, a quarterfinalist at last year’s U.S. Open, had reached at least the quarterfinals in her two most recent events. This was her second successive first-round loss here.
Fellow American Shenay Perry lost to Karolina Sprem, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in another first-round match. Others moving into the second round were Julia Goerges of Germany, Julie Coin of France, Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
The seeded women will begin play in the second round Friday, with No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark facing American Vania King in the opening match of the day.
In a late match, Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 7-5.
Former No. 1-ranked Carlos Moya led the men’s advance to the second round, but made more than 50 unforced errors before overcoming American qualifier Tim Smyczek 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5).
The 33-year-old Spaniard had to save two set points in the opening tiebreaker and then saved two set points while trailing 5-3 in the second, before finally winning in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Smyczek, ranked No. 295, hadn’t won a set in his two previous ATP Tour level matches but pushed Moya all the way.
Moya, who reached the No. 1 ranking by reaching the Indian Wells title here in 1999, missed all but four tournaments last season due to hamstring and toe injuries and had only one match win this year coming into the BNP Paribas Open.
American Mardy Fish, the BNP Paribas Open runner-up in 2008, beat Michael Berrer of Germany, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in a first-round match.
Fish, 28, sidelined most of the second half of last season due to a fractured rib and left knee surgery, will face No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who won that 2008 final in three sets and is 3-0 against him.
“I feel like I can beat him but I haven’t,” Fish said of Djokovic. And for awhile against Berrer, it didn’t look as if he’d get to try again.
“I’ve played a lot of matches out here. I’ve lost a lot of first sets,” Fish said. “This seems like the majority these days. It comes with the territory. It’s just experience, saying ‘Look, there’s a long way to go. You feel you’re better than this guy. Just bear down.”‘
Ryan Harrison beat doubles partner Taylor Dent, 6-3, 6-4 to become the first 17-year-old to win in this tournament since Rafael Nadal in 2004.
Croatia’s Mario Ancic rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over American Bobby Reynolds, joining Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and Florent Serra, Fabio Fognini of Italy, Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, Ramon Delgado of Paraguay, Philipp Petzschner of Germany, Kevin Anderson of South Africa, Brian Dabul of Argentina and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the second round.
In a late match, Ernests Gulbis beat Marco Chiudinelli 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Friday night will be highlighted by the Hit for Haiti charity fund raiser. In that, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras will play Nadal and Andre Agassi in one doubles match and Steffi Graf and Lindsay Davenport will play Justine Henin and Martina Navratilova. The event, which also will feature singer Tony Bennett, is a sellout at the 16,100-seat Tennis Garden and the goal is to raise $1 million for victims of the earthquake.
