Associated Press

Indian Wells, March 11:

Sesil Karatantcheva has shown she can talk a good game. Now, the 15-year-old Bulgarian will get a chance to prove she can play one. Karatantcheva advanced on Thursday to the second round of the $2.1million Pacific Life Open with a 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory over German Marlene Weingartner. She will next face top-ranked and top-seeded Lindsay Davenport.

It’s a situation similar to last year, when then 14-year-old Karatantcheva made her WTA Tour debut by reaching the third round against Maria Sharapova and threatened to “kick her butt off” because of a perceived slight during training in Florida. Karatantcheva lost that match, and she’s not making any predictions about the one against Davenport. Karatantcheva, who lost that match last year to Sharapova in three sets, said they have never talked about it, and she isn’t sure it’s necessary. The first round was finished with United States players Angela Haynes, Lindsay Lee-Waters, and Jessica Kirkland in the earlier matches. Also advancing to the second round were Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic, Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia, Yoon Jeong Cho of South Korea, Antonella Serra Zanetti of Italy, Alonya Bondarenko and Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine, Emilie Loit of France and Spaniard Maria Sanchez Lorenzo.