Serbian Ana Ivanovic kept on course for the title defense at the BNP Paribas Open, advancing to the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Argentine Gisela Dulko.
Ivanovic double-faulted six times in the opening set, contributing to Dulko’s break of serve in the fifth game, but the defending champion won the final four games to take the lead. She broke the Argentine two more times in the second set to close out the match in one hour and 16 minutes.
“When it was very close on both sets I stepped up a little bit more and I just went for my shots and followed my instincts,” said the No. 5 seed. “I played really well, so I was happy about all that. What was little disappointing to me today was my serve, particularly from one side. I made quite a few double faults and quite a few miss-hits, which was very surprising because I felt really good practicing out there even today and yesterday. But I'm really happy to be through so I get chance to improve.”
She will next face No. 12 seed Flavia Pennetta after the Italian came back to halt the run of American qualifier Angela Haynes 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. The 24-year-old Haynes had upset 20th seed Ai Sugiyama to reach the third round for the first time.
In the night session, two-time champion and No. 30 seed Daniela Hantuchova continued her success at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden as she dispatched Czech Petra Cetkovska 7-5, 7-5 to improve to a 21-5 record at her best tour event. The 25-year-old Slovakian won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title at this event in 2002 by defeating Martina Hingis, and reclaimed the title with wins over five seeded players in 2007.
Hantuchova, a quarterfinalist last year in Indian Wells (l. to Sharapova), will take a 2-1 head-to-head record into her next match against Austrian Sybille Bammer. The No. 23 seed overwhelmed Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-3 as she won all six of her break points. Bammer, who is making her sixth appearance at the tournament, reached the semifinals in 2007 (l. to Kuznetsova).
Seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska joined younger sister Urszula in the fourth round, needing just 59 minutes to defeat Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-4. She will attempt to reach the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals for the second straight year when she faces No. 22 seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary. Szavay beat German qualifier Kristina Barrois 6-3, 6-4.
Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ensured that an unseeded player would play in the quarterfinals as both players posted straight-sets wins in their third round matches. Llagostera Vives beat 21st-seeded Russian Alisa Kleybanova 7-6(2), 6-3, and Pavlyuchenkova won seven of her 20 break point chances to defeat Italian Karin Knapp 6-2, 6-4.
The 17-year-old Pavyluchenkova, who is making her Indian Wells debut this week, had posted the biggest upset in the women’s draw at the 2009 BNP Paribas Open when she upset No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic in the second round
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2617.asp)
