Garcia battles through at Indian Wells Open to set up Raducanu clash

Garcia had gone three matches without a win against her Ukrainian opponent, who reached the final of last week's Lyon Open.

Although she squandered two match points in the second set, Garcia eventually prevailed 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 7-5 after nearly two and a half hours to set up a second-round clash with US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Sofia Kenin's difficult start to the year continued as she suffered a straight-sets defeat to Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia.

The Australian Open champion and French Open runner-up two years ago, Kenin has now lost six matches in a row since reaching the quarter-finals in Adelaide back in January.

The 23-year-old, who has dropped to 130 in the world, threw in 11 double faults in her 6-3 7-5 defeat to Haddad Maia, who next meets 29th seed Clara Tauson.

Moving on Beatriz Haddad Maia fights past Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 to reach the second round #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/ZvssgP3f6B

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 10, 2022

Ekaterina Alexandrova will face Simona Halep, the 2015 champion, in round two after coming through 4-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) against 18-year-old American Elvina Kalieva.

There were also wins for Kaia Kanepi, Alison Riske and Harriet Dart, who next meets 12th seed Elina Svitolina.