By Erik Gudris | Sunday, March 15, 2015

 

Serena Williams rolled into the fourth round at Indian Wells. Waiting for her next is a resurgent Sloane Stephens.

Photo Credit: Corleve

Serena Williams enjoyed a much more straightforward win on Sunday afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open. Yet, the World No. 1 now faces a tougher challenge in a fellow American in the fourth round.

Indian Wells: Pliskova Defeats Muguruza Again

Sloane Stephens continues enjoying a resurgence at Indian Wells and will now take on her Fed Cup teammate for the first time since the 2013 U.S. Open.

Williams struggled against her own emotions and a tricky opponent in Monica Niculescu during her first round match marking the top seed's return to the tournament for the first time in 14 years. But Williams got back into a familiar pattern of winning in easy fashion against No. 28 seed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.

Though each player traded service breaks early in the first set, Williams soon took control and never looked back. From 2-all in the first, Williams eventually won the next 10 games to seal a 6-2, 6-0 win in just 53 minutes.

"I think I was able to relax because I was able to do more of the right things and not make as many mistakes as I did in my last round," Williams said about her routine win. "I think with that, that helped me to be able to relax a little bit."

Stephens found herself taking on Russian veteran No. 22 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Though Stephens struggled at the start of this season, the young American is showing better form so far in Indian Wells.

Both women battled from the baseline with Stephens often finding success with her forehand. The American claimed the opening set in a tiebreak 7-6(4).

Kuznetsova imposed herself by breaking Stephens twice in the second set en route to taking it 6-1 and forcing a decider. Stephens shifted momentum back on her side thanks to a poorly timed forehand into the net by the Russian in the second game. That soon allowed Stephens to break for 2-0 lead.

Stephens would serve for the match later up 5-3 but played a loose game to allow herself to be broken back. Yet Stephens, once again relying on her big forehand, broke the Russian in the final game to close out the 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4 win.

Williams, when asked about the the prospect of facing Stephens who defeated her in Melbourne back in 2013 said, "Yes, I have had some tough matches with Sloane. She's had an interesting year, but I have noticed that she's been really playing well. She moves well and she tries to do her best for everything. That would be an interesting, good matchup for me."

Radwanska Leads Several Seeded Players Exiting Early

Sunday saw several seeds in the women's draw exit early before the start of week two in the desert.

UK's Heather Watson scored her first ever top ten win by knocking out last year's finalist No. 7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4.

No. 27 seed Timea Bacsinszky continued her recent unbeaten win streak that includes two titles with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 8 seed Ekaterina Makarova.

No. 23 seed Elina Svitolina upset No. 10 seed Lucie Safarova 7-6(5), 7-5.