BNP PARIBAS OPEN NEWS. 5 MARCH 2014. ZVONAREVA OUT.

VERA ZVONAREVA

China’s Peng Shuai opened main draw action on Stadium 1 by ousting 2009 BNP Paribas Open champion Vera Zvonareva 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 on Wednesday in Indian Wells. Peng, who ascended to the No. 1 doubles ranking last month, broke Zvonareva five times over the final two sets to claim victory after two hours and 21 minutes. The 28 year old is making her 10th visit to the desert, and will next play 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. Zvonareva, one of seven former champions in the women’s draw, sat out the 2013 season due to a shoulder injury and was looking to record just her second match win since the 2012 Olympics. 
 Austrian Yvonne Meusburger set a second-round meeting with another former champion, seventh seed Jelena Jankovic, after defeating Iveta Melzer 6-4, 6-2. British qualifier Heather Watson beat Swiss wild card Belinda Bencic 7-5, 6-4 to earn a challenging second-round match with No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. In other matches, German Annika Beck fought past Swiss Stefanie Voegele 6-2, 2-6, 7-5; Belgian Yanina Wickmayer prevailed against Slovakian qualifier Anna Schmiedlova 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; and Canadian qualifier Sharon Fichman rallied past Israeli Shahar Peer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 
 Kimiko Date-Krumm and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova produced an upset in doubles action, knocking out sixth-seeded Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova 6-2, 7-5.