Azarenka Warms Up to Title Defense as Stephens Exits Indian Wells

Victoria Azarenka passed an early test while Sloane Stephens exited Indian Wells earlier than American fans would have liked.

By Erik Gudris

(March 11th, 2013) -- Defending BNP Paribas Open women's champion Victoria Azarenka got her game warmed up in time to fight off an early second round test as she kicked off her title defense at Indian Wells.

Facing a former two-time winner of the event in Daniela Hantuchova, Azarenka found herself quickly down 1-4 thanks to some erratic play on her part. But Azarenka got her game going to level the set at 4-all. From there Azarenka broke serve and went on to close out the set 6-4.

Azarenka then hit cruise control in the second set and wrapped up a 6-4, 6-1 win.

"She caught me a little bit off guard," Azarenka told WTA.com later about her slow start to the match. "I needed a little bit of time to realize I'm in the tournament, that I have to step it up if I want to win."

Hampton Advances as Keys, Stephens Exit in Second Round

The woes of American players continued as several more left the event much sooner than their home crowd fans would have liked.

Though thrilled with her opening round win in her WTA main draw debut, the party ended for 16-year-old American Taylor Townsend who was schooled by No. 11 seed Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 in their second round encounter.

Young Madison Keys certainly has much upside potential, but she couldn't match the experience of Australia's Sam Stosur who notched a rather clinical 6-3, 6-4 performance in their afternoon match. Though afterwards Keys's coach publicly complained about a lack of crowd support for his charge, that certainly wasn't the case for Stosur who enjoys continued popularity stateside.

When asked about that Stosur told WTA.com, "I think maybe part of that is from my doubles back in the day with Lisa (Raymond). They got to know me a little bit, and obviously since I won the U.S. Open. It's one of those places I feel comfortable playing. I always have good support no matter who I'm playing. It was a good crowd today."

Jamie Hampton continued finding success on the purple courts at Indian Wells as she upset No. 20 seed Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-3.

In the night session, Sloane Stephens's return in front of an American crowd since her semifinal run to Melbourne didn't end as happily as either would have liked. Stephens found herself on the losing end to Poland's Urzsula Radwanska who won 6-3, 6-4 Afterwards, Stephens continued a running theme by saying that she felt uncomfortable dealing with the increased media attention since her breakthrough performance in January.

Radwanska will next face Hampton in the third round.

Other winners on the day included No. seed Angelique Kerber who snapped a three match losing streak, No. 8 seed Caroline Wozniacki, No. 10 seed Nadia Petrova and No. 21 seed Julia Goerges. No. 17 seed Ekaterina Makarova fell to Spanish qualifier Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

(Photo Credit: Tony Chang/Chang Photography)