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The event, normally held in March, wasn't played last year and
was postponed earlier this year due to the pandemic. However,
when several Asian events were canceled due to travel
restrictions, Indian Wells jumped in to grab the fall date.
Men's singles play is scheduled to start Thursday in the
Southern California desert, and the tournament will run through
Oct. 17.
Stephens picked on Watson's second serve, winning 30 of 51
points, and the 28-year-old American converted seven of her 18
break-point opportunities.
Stephens broke serve to end the second set, then won the first
five games of the third set to pull away, winning in 2 hours, 51
minutes.
"Playing Heather is always a tough match," Stephens said. "We
grew up playing juniors together, and we're really good friends.
Before the tournament, we were talking in the parking lot for an
hour about everything, and how we've been friends for so long
and how we're able to separate the match and still be friends.
Then we ended up playing each other in the first round, so that
was unfortunate.
"She's always a super-tough opponent and I always look forward
to playing her. I just competed really well. After the first
set, that was disappointing to lose that one, but I felt like it
was a battle and I was still in the match. I knew I had to keep
fighting and that's what I did, and I'm just really pleased to
have squeaked out a win here."
Stephens is looking for her first WTA title since March 2018,
and she hasn't made a final since later that year.
Other winners Wednesday included Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva,
Japan's Misaki Doi, Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, Russia's
Liudmila Samsonova, Poland's Magda Linette, Ukraine's Marta
Kostyuk, Croatia's Petra Martic, Italy's Jasmine Paolini, the
Czech Republic's Tereza Martincova, Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh, the
Netherlands' Arantxa Rus and the United States duo of Madison
Keys and Shelby Rogers.
The tournament's top 32 seeds, led by No. 1 Karolina Pliskova of
the Czech Republic, No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 3 Barbora
Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and No. 4 Elina Svitolina of
Ukraine, received first-round byes.
Emma Raducanu, the 18-year-old British player who made a
stunning run to the U.S. Open championship last month, will open
against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The Belarusian player beat
Colombia's Maria Camila Osorio Serrano 6-0, 6-4.
Ranked 150th in the world at the start of the U.S. Open,
Raducanu is the 17th seed at Indian Wells.
Leylah Fernandez, the 19-year-old Canadian who fell to Raducanu
in the U.S. Open final, will face France's Alize Cornet in her
initial match. Cornet beat Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela
Ruse 6-3, 7-6 (5). Fernandez is seeded 23rd.
--Field Level Media
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