Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone defeated fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-5 6-1 on Wednesday to book a clash with second-seeded Maria Sharapova at the Indian Wells hardcourt tennis tournament in California.
Schiavone, the 2010 Roland Garros winner, improved to 5-2 against Pennetta, who only recently returned from wrist surgery.
The all-Italian clash was among 16 first-round women’s matches on the opening day of the combined ATP Masters and WTA tournament, in which the 32 men’s and 32 women’s seeds enjoy first-round byes.
Australian Casey Dellacqua suffered a 6-1 6-3 opening-round loss to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, while Israel’s Shahar Peer disposed of Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-3 6-4.
Defending champion Victoria Azarenka is the top women’s seed.
The Australian Open champion from Belarus arrives at Indian Wells unbeaten in 14 matches this year and, in the second round, will face the winner of Thursday’s match between two-time Indian Wells champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and France’s Stephanie Foretz Gacon.
Other Indian Wells past champions in the women’s field are former top-ranked players Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Serbians Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic.
Jankovic will face a tough second-round clash with two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who needed just 71 minutes to beat Czech Andrea Hlavackova 6-3 6-1.
Kuznetsova, winner of the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, is on the comeback trail after a knee injury that put her on crutches for two months, followed by weeks of rehabilitation that forced her to miss every tournament after Wimbledon last year.
Once ranked No.2 in the world, Kuznetsova dropped to 85th but has climbed back to 46th with quarter-final appearances in Sydney and at the Australian Open.
“I’m happy to be back on the court. This is the main thing,” said Kuznetsova, who was runner-up at Indian Wells in 2007 and 2008. “Every day, I just try the best I can and things are coming along pretty well.”
US wildcard Maria Sanchez, ranked 112th in the world, defeated Russian Olga Puchkova 6-3 6-3 to line up a second-round meeting with third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic and defending champion Roger Federer are the top two seeds in a men’s field that also includes Scotland’s Andy Murray and Spain’s Rafael Nadal.
It’s the first tournament to feature the “big four” of men’s tennis since last year’s Wimbledon, and the spotlight will be squarely on Nadal as he plays his fourth tournament – and his first on hardcourts – since ending a seven-month injury layoff in February.
