Top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland cruised past the United States’ Claire Liu 6-0, 6-1 in 65 minutes to kick off defense of her title at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday at Indian Wells, Calif.
Swiatek won 80 percent of her first serves in her first outing in an attempt to repeat.
“Coming back after such a great result last year is something else,” Swiatek said. “I wanted to get my level of energy up a little bit, because it’s the hardest thing to do when everything goes your way.”
Swiatek next plays Canadian Bianca Andreescu, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over American Peyton Stearns in a match that lasted three hours and 31 minutes.
Fourth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia ousted Poland’s Magdalena Frech 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in 1 hour, 43 minutes.
Fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France needed 3 hours, 7 minutes to get past Hungary’s Dalma Galfi 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
No. 8 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia rolled in straight sets over German Tatjana Maria, 6-2, 6-1.
Tenth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan needed more than three hours to dispatch American Sofia Kenin in straight sets, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).
Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu upended No. 20 Magda Linette of Poland 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Other winners included No. 21-seeded Spaniard Paula Badosa, No. 19 seed Madison Keys of the U.S., No. 23 seed Martina Trevisan of Italy, 30th-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Canada, Croation 25th seed Petra Martic and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No. 14 seed.
–Field Level Media
