Irina Falconi, Gisela Dulko and Johanna Larsson all advanced to the second round at the Indian Wells tournament early Thursday as their opponents withdrew with injuries. Australia's Jelena Dokic pulled out after just nine minutes in the first set with a right wrist injury, sending Dulko of Argentina into the second round, where she will face second seed Maria Sharapova. Dulko has reached the quarterfinals in Indian Wells twice, in 2004 and 2006. Sweden's Larsson was 4-1 ahead in the first set when qualifier Greta Arn of Hungary retired from their match with a neck injury. Larsson will face former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, who is seeded 15th, in the next round. Arn reached the third round of the Australian Open and the semifinals in Monterrey, Mexico, last month, where she lost to Romania's Alexandra Cadantu. American wild card Falconi advanced after Alexandra Dulgheru withdrew from their match with a right knee injury. Dulgheru won the first set 6-4 and was trailing 5-2 in the second when she pulled the plug. Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson swept past Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in her opening match 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). Arvidsson kept her unforced errors down to a minimum and won 65 percent of her second serve points in the one hour, 55 minute match. Russian Ekaterina Makarova, having recovered from a wrist injury since her surprise quarter-final run at the Australian Open in January, lost serve just once on the way to a 6-2 6-3 win over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Makarova's reward is a second-round encounter with Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. In other matches, South African Chanelle Scheepers brushed aside Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson 6-3, 6-3 while Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa scraped past Italy's Alberta Brianti 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. World No. 1 and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus makes her first appearance of the week in the singles draw when she plays Germany's Mona Barthel, who she beat on her way to the title in Melbourne, in Friday's second round. The men's side of the draw began play Thursday as wild card Sam Querrey defeated fellow American Tim Smyczek 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, Poland's Lukasz Kubot beat Ivo Karlovic, of Croatia, 6-4, 6-2 and Italy's Andreas Seppi rallied to defeat Olivier Rochus, of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
