On Friday, the seeded players started their campaign in the 2023 edition of Indian Wells. While a couple of upsets did occur, the majority of the seeds progressed to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
One notable upset involved Swiss player Jil Teichmann, who faced her compatriot Belinda Bencic in a Swiss derby. Teichmann was able to overcome the ninth-seeded Bencic in three sets in their second-round match. Teichmann came from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 32 minutes.
In the third round, Teichmann will play against Rebecca Peterson, a Swedish qualifier who advanced after her second-round opponent, the 22nd-seeded Shuai Zhang, retired while down 0-3 in the first set.
Meanwhile, Xinyu Wang of China defeated 18th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova in their round-of-64 clash with a score of 6-2, 6-3 in 75 minutes. Wang will face 16th seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in the third round. Krejcikova won her round-of-64 match against Ukrainian wildcard Dayana Yastremska with a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory in 69 minutes.
In another upset, Czech player Linda Noskova defeated 31st seed Amanda Anisimova 7-6(6), 6-3 in 80 minutes in their second-round match. Noskova will play fellow 18-year-old Coco Gauff next. The American beat Spainās Cristina Bucsa 6-2, 6-4 in their round-of-64 meeting.
Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan closed her match with an upset over 29th seed Donna Vekic, winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. She will now face second-seeded player Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka, the 2023 Australian Open winner, began her tournament on an emphatic note with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Evgenia Rodina.
Finally, third-seeded player Jessica Pegula of the United States rebounded after losing the first set to beat Camila Giorgi of Italy 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in seven minutes short of two hours.