Gavrilova through in Indian Wells tennis

Daria Gavrilova is through to the third round of the Indian Wells tennis tournament, having beaten Yanina Wickmayer 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

The Australian saved two break points in the first set on Saturday (AEDT) before trading breaks with Wickmayer in the second set of the one hour and 44-minute second-round match in California.

World No.27 Gavrilova will next play Elina Svitolina, the world No.10, after she accounted for Wang Qiang 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3).

In other second-round matches, third seed Karolina Pliskova stormed back to beat Olympic champion Monica Puig 1-6 6-4 6-4.

Fifth seed Dominika Cibulkova survived a scare against Latvian Jelena Ostapenko to triumph 6-4 3-6 6-3 after a battle that lasted over two hours.

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded eighth, had an easier time in beating Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

Seventh seed Garbine Muguruza impressed in her 6-2 6-3 win against Kirsten Flipkens and Kristyna Pliskova, twin sister of Karolina, overcame Daria Kasatkina 6-0 6-3.

“It’s always difficult to close out your first match,” French Open champion Muguruza said.

“She’s a very talented player, unbelievable, with a very different game. I got nervous!”

Johanna Konta won an all-British contest against Heather Watson 6-4 6-4, Roberta Vinci beat Madison Brengle 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 and Caroline Garcia beat Evgeniya Rodina 6-3 6-3.

Kiki Bertens, seeded 18th, was a 6-2 6-2 winner against Belinda Bencic, 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky beat Monica Niculescu 7-5 6-2 while American teenager Kayla Day won 6-4 5-7 7-5 against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

“This means a lot to me,” Day said.

“I was really grateful to get offered this wildcard into the tournament, and it really means a lot that I can be able to see that I can play with some of the best players in the world.”

Czech Barbora Strycova beat Sara Errani 6-4 5-7 6-2, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated Anett Kontaveit 6-4 6-4 and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu knocked out America’s Louisa Chirico 6-1 7-5.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!