Indian Wells, CA – Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki were both easy winners on Saturday, while Sabine Lisicki was ousted at the $5.535 million BNP Paribas Open.
The second-seeded Russian Sharapova was helped by Argentinean Gisela Dulko's five double faults in a 6-2, 6-0 throttling on the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Denmark's Wozniacki, the tournament's fourth seed, converted on 7-of-13 break opportunities in a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in a match that lasted a little over an hour.
They weren't the only seeded players who cruised through the day, though, as sixth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur downed American Irina Falconi 6-0, 6-3, tenth-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone had little trouble against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-4 and Czech's 23rd seed Lucie Safarova advanced when Austrian Tamira Paszek retired in the second set while trailing 6-3, 3-1.
Lisicki, however, suffered a 6-1, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino. The 11th-seeded German committed five double faults and converted on just 1-of-10 break chances en route to the loss.
A few minor upsets also happened when Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa defeated 29th-seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-2, Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson took down 26th-seeded Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-3, Romanian Simona Halep upended 28th-seeded Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-2, 6-4 and China's 17th seed Peng Shuai fell to 20-year-old Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-4, 6-0.
Other seeded winners on Saturday saw Serbian Ana Ivanovic, seeded 15th, cruise to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Johanna Larsson of Sweden and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, seeded 16th, won when her compatriot Magdalena Rybarikova retired early in the first set with an injury. Italian Roberta Vinci, seeded 21st, slipped past Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-3, 6-3.
Also on Saturday, France's Marion Bartoli, the seventh seed, earned a marathon 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over American Varvara Lepchenko, 20th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko doused Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 and Russia's 30th seed Nadia Petrova eased past American Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-2.
The winner of this 12-day event will enjoy a $1 million windfall.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.