WTA Indian Wells: Kessler sets up Sabalenka clash in second round

American McCartney Kessler won against Russian Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-2 to reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Thursday.

Kessler, ranked No 48, will play top seed and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka next. This will be the first career meeting between the two players.

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other first-round matches (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8,963,700):

• Kimberly Birrell (Q) beat Viktorija Golubic (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Jaqueline Cristian beat Veronika Kudermetova: 6-2, 6-3
• Belinda Bencic (WC) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-1, 6-1
• Sonay Kartal (LL) beat Varvara Lepchenko (Q): 7-6 (6), 6-2
• Sorana Cirstea beat Maya Joint (Q): 6-2, 7-5
• Moyuka Uchijima beat Emma Raducanu: 6-3, 6-2
• Catherine McNally beat Ajla Tomljanovic (Q): 6-4 ret.
• Viktoriya Tomova beat Olga Danilovic: 6-2, 6-3
• Sofia Kenin beat Maddison Inglis (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Polina Kudermetova beat Claire Liu (Q): 6-4, 6-2
• Lucia Bronzetti beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-4, 7-5
• Dayana Yastremska beat Yue Yuan: 6-2, 6-4
• Ashlyn Krueger beat Katie Volynets: 0-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Robin Montgomery (WC) beat Jule Niemeier (Q): 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Camila Osorio beat Naomi Osaka: 6-4, 6-4
• Victoria Azarenka beat Clervie Ngounoue (Q): 6-4, 7-6 (7)
• Katerina Siniakova beat Maria Lourdes Carle (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Caroline Dolehide (WC) beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 6-2, 7-6 (3)
• Xinyu Wang beat Mayar Sherif: 6-4, 7-5
• Magda Linette beat Peyton Stearns: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Suzan Lamens beat Marie Bouzkova: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Hailey Baptiste (Q) beat Whitney Osuigwe (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Irina-Camelia Begu beat Ann Li: 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
• Caroline Garcia beat Bernarda Pera (WC): 6-3, 6-4
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Renata Zarazua: 6-4, 1-0 ret.
• Lulu Sun beat Rebecca Sramkova: 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (2)
• Varvara Gracheva beat Petra Kvitova (WC): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Lauren Davis vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Alycia Parks vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Iva Jovic vs. Julia Grabher
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Anastasia Potapova

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