Former world No. 4 Caroline Garcia shook off a second set loss to defeat Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-5 as the main draw at Indian Wells got under way on Thursday.
Yastremska received a late wild card after a withdrawal put Naomi Osaka into the main draw but against Against Garcia unforced errors, 75 in total, were her eventual undoing.
Yastremska did take a 4-2 lead in the final set after her second set win, but Garcia fought back to take the. Much and set up a clash with Emma Raducanu.
“I’m definitely pleased with the way I fought today and I stayed very positive every game,” Garcia said.
“Having match points in the second set was really tough, but she played really well.
“Dayana is an amazing fighter and every time she’s behind, she’s playing her best tennis.”
Meanwhile, Britons Heather Watson and Katie Boulter fell to straight-set defeats in the first round.
Watson went down 6-2 6-1 to Czech Tereza Martincova and Boulter lost 6-3 6-2 to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.
Heather Dart progressed to the second round after Ana Konjuh retired from their match trailing by a set and 3-1.
The first main-draw victory of the tournament belonged to Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, who took just 71 minutes to see off reigning US Open girls’ singles and doubles champion Robin Montgomery 6-3, 6-3.
“I expected a tough match because I knew she’s serving and hitting hard, and I had to be ready for that,” Kanepi said after the match.
Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia pulled off a shock with an upset win over former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5.
