Townsend, Ruzic continue strong form to win Indian Wells openers

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.

In the evening session, 23-year-old Antonia Ruzic continued her incredible start to the 2026 season with a comeback win over former Australian Open runner-up Jennifer Brady of the United States.

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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.

“I feel really great, actually,” Townsend said afterward. “The way that I played today, I was really proud of myself -- of the mental discipline from start to finish. It wasn’t easy with windy conditions. Marie is a very tough opponent, she fights to the end, gets a lot of balls back, is a really great mover.

“I just knew that I was going to have to be on my game and I was happy that I was able to I was able to be on, from the beginning, all the way to the end.”

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.

Brady starts strong but goes down in three sets to Ruzic

Brady, playing in only her third tournament after missing the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons due to a knee injury that required surgery, started strongly against the 57th-ranked Ruzic. She claimed the first set 6-3 and looked set for a straight-sets win as she led 3-1 in the second.

Ruzic, however, clawed her way back into the match by breaking to level at 3-3. Brady regained the advantage with another break to lead 4-3. But from there, the Croatian produced the solid tennis that has made her one of the most dangerous players on tour this year. She won eight games in a row to take the second set 6-4 and build a 5-0 lead in the decider.

Although Brady recovered one break of serve to cut the deficit to 5-2, Ruzic wrapped up the 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in just over two hours.

It was her second consecutive three-set loss on the WTA Tour for Brady after a first-round defeat in Austin last week. She did reach the semifinals of her first tournament back — an ITF W100 event in San Diego in January.

For Ruzic, the win continues her impressive form this year. She reached the semifinals in Hobart and the quarterfinals in Dubai as a lucky loser, helping consolidate her position in the top 60 of the world rankings — an impressive rise from the 130s at this time last year. She will next face 24th seed and another former Australian Open runner-up, Qinwen Zheng. It will be the first meeting between the two players.