Serena victorious in return to Indian Wells
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Indian Wells, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Serena Williams entered the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to a chorus of cheers as she made her first appearance at the BNP Paribas Open since 2001.
After a heartfelt standing ovation that brought visible emotions to Williams, she went out and battled her way past Monica Niculescu 7-5, 7-5 on Friday.
The 2001 Indian Wells champ Williams ended her self-imposed exile from this tournament to play here for the first time in 14 years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}At the 2001 BNP Paribas Open, Serena and her older sister Venus were booed by angry fans who accused them of match fixing after Venus withdrew from a scheduled semifinal match. In an article published by USA Today soon after, Serena's father, Richard, said he was a victim of racial abuse as he watched Serena defeat then 17-year-old Kim Clijsters.
Serena, a 19-time major titlist and top seed at Indian Wells, defeated Niculescu in their first career meeting.
Third-seeded French Open finalist and steady Romanian Simona Halep started off slowly before rebounding to best Russian Daria Gavrilova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In other second-round action involving top-10 seeds on Day 3, No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska routed American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-1 and No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova mauled fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-0. The Polish Radwanska was last year's Indian Wells runner-up to Italy's Flavia Pennetta.
Czech Lucie Safarova, the No. 10 seed, had her troubles with Mona Barthel, but ultimately won 6-4 (7-4), 7-6. The 12th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain cruised past Monica Puig 6-1, 6-1, while American Sloane Stephens upended 13th-seeded Angelique Kerber 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
Rising 14th-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova moved on by dismissing Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 6-3, 7-5.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated No. 17 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 6-3, 19th-seeded Garbine Muguruza downed Irina Falconi 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and 22nd- seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Katerina Siniakova, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 to move on.
The two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova was the back-to-back Indian Wells runner-up in 2007 and 2008.
Meanwhile, 23rd-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina overcame Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 26th-seeded Varvara Lepchenko eased past Sachia Vickery 6-4, 6-1, 27th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky took care of Marina Erakovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 28th-seeded Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas drubbed Croat Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-3 and Britain's Heather Watson dismissed 29th-seeded Italian Camila Giorgi 7-5, 7-5.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 2015 titlist will earn $900,400.