Indian Wells, CA – American Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered round defeat at the $5.535 million BNP Paribas Open.
Mattek-Sands was ousted 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 19 minutes by Russian Ekaterina Makarova on the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
American wild card Irina Falconi lost the first set 4-6 and was leading in the second 5-2 when Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru retired from their match on Day 2, citing a right knee injury. The 21-year-old Falconi will meet U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur on Saturday.
Argentine Gisela Dulko won the first game against former top-10 star Jelena Dokic before the Aussie retired with a right wrist injury. Dulko is rewarded with a second-round match against former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova.
Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko overcame former top-20 performer Shahar Peer of Israel 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, while American wild card Lauren Davis took down Petra Martic 6-2, 7-6 (9-7).
Additional wins came for Austrian Tamira Paszek, Russian Ksenia Pervak, South African Chanelle Scheepers, Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa, Swede Johanna Larsson, Romanian Simona Halep, American Varvara Lepchenko, Swede Sofia Arvidsson, Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
The top seed here is world No. 1 star Victoria 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 the Aussie Open and Wimbledon runner- up 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. Sharapova titled here back in 2006.
The winner of this 12-day event will enjoy a $1 million windfall.
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