Serena breezes into fourth round on Indian Wells return
Top-seed American thrashed Zarina Diyas in 53 minutes; Federer, Nadal progress in men’s draw.
Top-seed Serena Williams made short work of Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open, obliterating her opponent 6-2 6-0 in just 53 minutes.
Playing her second match at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden after deciding to end a 14-year boycott of the event where she had suffered alleged racist abuse, Williams broke an error-prone Diyas three times in each set to cruise into the last-16.
Britain’s Heather Watson claimed her first victory over a top-10 ranked player with a 6-4 6-4 upset of world number eight Agnieszka Radwanska, while third-seeded Romanian Simona Halep battled past American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1 3-6 6-1.
In the men’s draw, Roger Federer wasted little time easing into the third round but fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka became the first big name to be sent packing at the elite men’s event.
Federer advances
World number two Federer launched his bid for a record fifth title at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with a clinical 6-4 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman which lasted a little over an hour.
Seventh-seeded Wawrinka, however, was knocked out of the ATP Masters 1000 event, losing 6-3 3-6 6-3 to Dutchman Robin Haase.
Spanish left-hander Rafa Nadal, a three-times champion at Indian Wells, also advanced in comfortable fashion as he demolished Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-4 6-2 in an evening match lasting just 72 minutes.