Oct 9 (Reuters) – Defending women’s champion Bianca Andreescu earned a hard-fought 7-6(2) 5-7 6-2 win over American Alison Riske on her return to the Indian Wells tournament on Saturday.

Andreescu, who was back at the Southern California event for the first time since her 2019 title win, was pushed to the limit by the unseeded Riske before the Canadian won the first set tiebreak.

Andreescu seemed to find her rhythm in the second set but Riske saved two match points to force a decider.

World number 21 Andreescu held her nerve to wrap up the match – which lasted nearly three hours – and will face Anett Kontaveit in the third round.

U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev sealed a comfortable 6-4 6-2 win over Mackenzie McDonald, while Diego Schwartzman saved two match points to survive qualifier Maxime Cressy 6-2 3-6 7-5.

Canadian Vasek Pospisil was forced to retire in the first set against compatriot Denis Shapovalov and Norwegian sixth seed Casper Ruud made quick work of Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1 6-2.

Eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz broke down the stubborn resistance of Alexei Popyrin to win 6-1 7-5 under warm and dry conditions, while world number five Andrey Rublev beat Carlos Taberner 6-3 6-4.

Top-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova defeated Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech 7-5 6-2, and French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova bounced back from a mid-match wobble to beat Zarina Diyas 6-4 3-6 6-1.

American teenager Coco Gauff had a winning debut at the tournament after beating France’s Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-7 (2) 6-1.

Australian Ajla Tomljanovic secured the first upset of the day, recovering from a rocky second set to send fifth seed Garbine Muguruza packing 6-3 1-6 6-3, while Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari was defeated 5-7 6-3 6-2 by Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic.

Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York and Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Pritha Sarkar, Chris Reese and William Mallard

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