Pegula advances, Ostapenko falls: Key results from the night at Indian Wells in WTA

The serious business has begun for the favorites in California. This Friday, March 7, marked the entry of the seeded players as the second round of the WTA 1000 in Indian Wells kicked off.

In addition to Elena Rybakina's qualification earlier in the day against Suzan Lamens (6-3, 6-3), Iga Swiatek and Mirra Andreeva eliminated the last two French players in the tournament, Caroline Garcia (6-2, 6-0) and Varvara Gracheva (7-5, 6-4), respectively.

During the night, most of the favorites or credible title contenders secured their spots in the third round. Fresh off her victory in Austin last week, Jessica Pegula made a strong start.

Facing Magda Linette, the 31-year-old American won comfortably (6-4, 6-2). She will face Wang Xinyu, who delivered the day's standout performance in the women's draw by eliminating Jelena Ostapenko, the finalist in Doha in February (6-4, 6-4).

Zheng Qinwen, last year's Australian Open finalist and WTA Finals runner-up, who has had a modest start to the season, found some reassurance at Indian Wells, winning her second-round match against Victoria Azarenka (6-3, 6-4).

As for Danielle Collins, she managed to rally and defeat Hailey Baptiste (5-7, 6-2, 6-4) and will face Elina Svitolina in the third round. The Ukrainian emerged victorious in her match against Ashlyn Krueger (6-1, 6-7, 6-3) on her ninth match point.

Karolina Muchova (6-4, 6-3 against Elisabetta Cocciaretto), Clara Tauson (7-6, 7-5 against Camila Osorio), and last year's semifinalist Marta Kostyuk (6-3, 6-1 against Robin Montgomery) also advanced.

However, Yulia Putintseva and Linda Noskova, both seeded players, were eliminated by Katerina Siniakova (6-2, 6-2) and Lulu Sun (6-1, 6-4), respectively.