Indian Wells, CA – Veteran American Jill Craybas came up an round loser as the $5.535 million BNP Paribas Open commenced Wednesday.
Rising German Mona Barthel spanked the 37-year-old Craybas 6-1, 6-2 in a mere 48 minutes on the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The 21-year-old Barthel, who captured her first-ever WTA title in Hobart in January, is rewarded with a second-round match against world No. 1 star Victoria Azarenka.
American wild card Jamie Hampton advanced with a 52-minute 6-0, 6-1 pasting of Slovenian Polona Hercog. The Alabama native is rewarded with a second-round match against former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. Jankovic was the Indian Wells champ two years ago.
Meanwhile, Aussie Jarmila Gajdosova came from behind to dismiss American wild card Coco Vandeweghe, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Additional wins came for 41-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm, Czech Klara Zakopalova, Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, and Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva, who will face eighth-seeded French Open champ Li Na of China on Friday.
The top seed here is the aforementioned Azarenka, who enjoyed an opening-round bye, along with 31 other seeds. The Australian Open champ is a perfect 17-0 this season, which includes a trio of titles.
Other top stars in this week's field are Aussie Open and Wimbledon runner-up Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who is the reigning Indian Wells titlist. Wozniacki beat former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli in last year's finale. The former top-ranked Sharapova titled here back in 2006.
The only Top-10 player missing in Indian Wells is No. 10 Andrea Petkovic, who has been sidelined since the Aussie Open due to a back injury.
The winner of this 12-day event will enjoy a $1 million windfall.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.