Townsend continues strong form to win Indian Wells opener

Fresh off her first WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz final last week in Austin, Taylor Townsend is showing no sign of letting up. The American booked her place in the BNP Paribas Open second round for a fifth time with a near-flawless 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Marie Bouzkova in 75 minutes.

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It was Townsend's first win over the Czech in three meetings -- they met for the first time a decade ago, at an ITF W75 in Albuquerque, and Bouzkova edged it 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. She was also a victor in two tight sets in the 2024 Washington second round.

However, Townsend's form and confidence are sky-high after her breakthrough Austin run, which saw her return to the Top 100 this week at No. 87. This result was her seventh win in her past eight matches, including two straight-sets qualifying victories this week. She set the tone for the match on the very first point, carving away a delicate volley winner, and went on to deliver a performance of coolly controlled aggression.

The former doubles World No. 1's prowess at net is well known, and what was even more impressive on Thursday was her knack for timing each of her approaches perfectly. Sometimes this was directly behind a strong serve; on other occasions, Townsend was comfortable trading baseline blows with Bouzkova in lengthy exchanges before turning up the aggression.

Townsend dropped serve once in each set, both times when she was already up a break. Both times, she also responded with a slew of winners in the very next game to break Bouzkova again.

The 29-year-old will face No. 28 seed Marta Kostyuk in the second round. Kostyuk won their only previous meeting 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the 2024 Adelaide second round, and is competing for the first time since sustaining an ankle injury in her first-round loss to Elsa Jacquemot at the Australian Open.