Heather Watson advances in BNP Paribas Open

Indian Wells: Britain's Heather Watson beat American Nicole Gibbs 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Watson will face No. 11 Johanna Konta in the second round.

Former No. 1 Martina Hingis and double partner Yung-Jan Chan beat Raquel Atawo and Yifan Xu 6-1, 6-4.

China's Qiang Wang, ranked No. 60, won one of the tightest matches of the day, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 over Ukraine' Kateryna Bondarenko. Wang will play No. 10 Elina Svitolina in the next round.

Puerto Rico's Monica Puig would have faced Serena Williams after beating American Danielle Collins 6-0, 6-2, but Williams pulled out Tuesday because of knee issues. Puig will face No. 3 Karolina Pliskova.

Sweden's Elias Ymer may have had the upset of the day with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in men's qualifying play. Ymer is No. 158 in the ATP ranking, and Nishioka 70th.

Indian Wells Results

BNP Paribas Open Results

Wednesday

At The Indian Wells Tennis Garden

Indian Wells, California

Purse: Men, $6.99 million (Masters 1000); Women, $6.99 million (Premier)

Surface: Hard-Outdoor

Singles

Women

First Round

Heather Watson, Britain, defeated Nicole Gibbs, United States, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Monica Niculescu, Romania, vs Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, defeated Danka Kovinic, Montenegro, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3).

Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium, defeated CiCi Bellis, United States, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Johanna Larsson, Sweden, defeated Camila Giorgi, Italy, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Wang Qiang, China, defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Kayla Day, United States, defeated Kurumi Nara, Japan, 6-3, 6-4.

Monica Puig, Puerto Rico, defeated Danielle Collins, United States, 6-0, 6-2.

Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, defeated Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Madison Brengle, United States, defeated Tatjana Maria, Germany, 6-4, 6-2.

Louisa Chirico, United States, defeated Francesca Schiavone, Italy, 6-3, 6-3.

Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States, 6-0, 6-3.

Belinda Bencic, Switzerland, defeated Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, 6-4, 6-1.

Evgeniya Rodina, Russia, defeated Christina McHale, United States, 6-1, 6-0.

Sara Errani, Italy, defeated Mandy Minella, Luxembourg, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Anett Kontaveit, Estonia, defeated Misaki Doi, Japan, 7-5, 6-4.

Doubles

Women

First Round

Lara Arruabarrena, Spain, and Liang Chen, China, defeated Caroline Garcia, France, and Karolina Pliskova (3), Czech Republic, 6-4, 1-6, 13-11.

Vania King, United States, and Yaroslava Shvedova (7), Kazakhstan, defeated Timea Babos, Hungary, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 7-5, 6-2.

Andrea Hlavackhova, Czech Republic, and Peng Shuai (5), China, defeated Darija Jurak, Croatia, and Anastasia Rodionova, Australia, 7-5, 6-1.

Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina (2), Russia, defeated Olga Kalashnikova, Georgia, and Maria Sanchez, United States, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6).

Sam Stosur, Australia, and Zhang Shuai, China, defeated Maria Irigoyen, Argentina, and Megan Moulton-Levy, United States, 6-2, 6-3.

Chan Yung-jan, Taiwan, and Martina Hingis (6), Switzerland, defeated Raquel Atawo, United States, and Xu Yifan, China, 6-1, 6-4.