INDIAN WELLS, California: Holder Jelena Jankovic and Belgian world No. 2 Kim Clijsters each made short shrift of their opponents as they cruised into the third round of the Indian Wells WTA tournament Friday. Serb Jankovic launched her title defense with a crushing 6-2, 6-1 victory over American teenager Coco Vandeweghe while Clijsters demolished Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 6-0. Jankovic, wearing a bright apricot dress, broke the error-prone Vandeweghe twice in the opening set and three times in the second to make a triumphant start as the sixth seed in the elite event at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The 26-year-old Serb, who beat Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in last year's final, sealed victory on her second match point when the American wildcard netted a backhand. World No. 6 Jankovic will next meet either 32nd-seeded German Julia Georges or Austria's Sybille Bammer. Vandeweghe, making her debut this week in the main draw at Indian Wells, struggled to make much of an impact with her powerful but erratic game against the rock-steady Jankovic. Clijsters, champion here in 2003 and 2005, needed only 52 minutes to brush aside the 23-year-old Kudryavtseva. In other matches, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy, the fifth seed, eased past Czech Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2, 6-0 and 17th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova brushed aside Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 7-5. Third-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva beat Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 7-6 while Kvitova, the 12th seed, was upset 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 by fellow Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. No. 15 Marion Bartoli rallied from a set down to oust Monica Niculescu 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Yanina Wickmayer eliminated Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-3, and Shahar Peer beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, leaving only young wild cards Sloane Stephens and Christina McHale left in the 11-member US contingent that started the event. In men's first-round play, American veteran James Blake was a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 winner over Chris Guccione; Canadian Milos Raonic beat Marsel Ilhan 6-2, 7-6 (4); and Ryan Harrison outlasted Jeremy Chardy 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 6-3. There was an unusually high amount of big names playing in the men's doubles, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all successfully negotiating their way through to the second round.
