From BNP Paribas Open: Seeded Men's Players Begin Play

INDIAN WELLS, CA - The seeded men's singles players, including Andy Murray of Great Britain, will make their debuts today as the second round of the 2016 BNP Paribas Open begins at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Murray, second in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings, will face 92nd-ranked Marcel Granollers of Spain in the third match on the Stadium 1 court.

Murray has won five of his six matches against Granollers, including the last three. This is Murray's first tournament since he lost in the Australian Open final on Jan. 31.

Fourth-ranked Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland will face Illya Marchenko of Ukraine for the first time in the opening match of the night session, which begins at 7 p.m.

All 32 seeded players in the 96-player men's singles draw received first-round byes.

The night session will conclude with a second-round women's match between 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Camila Giorgi of Italy.

Angelique Kerber of Germany is the highest seeded women's player in action.

The second seed will face Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic in the opening match on the Stadium 1 court, set to begin at 11 a.m.

Today's singles losers -- both men and women -- will each receive $19,530, while the winners are guaranteed at least $36,170.

The seeded women's singles players began play Friday, including the Williams sisters, with 10th-seeded Venus Williams losing to Japanese qualifier Kurumi Nara, 6-4, 6-3, in her first match in the tournament since 2001.

The first set was tied, 3-3, when rain halted play for 35 minutes.

Williams broke Nara's serve in the first game after play resumed, taking her first lead of the match. Nara won the final three games of the set, twice breaking Williams' serve. Williams had her serve broken in each of her three service games of the second set.

"It would have been an even better moment to have a win and share that moment with the crowd who have been so supportive and just so amazing, but not everything can end fairy tale,'' Williams said. "It's enough of a fairy tale to be here. Sometimes there's a little bit of a glitch. Doesn't mean that I can't come back next year and try to do even
better.''

The victory was Nara's second over a Top 20 player in 17 matches.

"This is the biggest win of my career,'' said Nara, who is ranked 89th.

Top-seeded Serena Williams defeated another qualifier, Laura Siegemund of Germany, 6-2, 6-1, in a night match, winning the final five games and overcoming break points in the opening game of both sets.

"My intensity was the key,'' Serena Williams said after her first match in a tournament since her three-set loss to Kerber in the final of the Australian Open in January.

"(Siegemund) actually started out really strong in the first game when I was serving, she was close to beating me. I knew right then and there if I wasn't going to come out at 100 percent, it would be a long match.''

Until last year, neither Williams sister played in the tournament after Serena Williams was relentlessly booed throughout the 2001 final, after her scheduled semifinal match against her sister was scrubbed due to an injury
suffered by Venus Williams.

Serena Williams returned to the tournament last year, reaching the semifinals, then withdrawing due to a right knee injury.

Other seeded players losing Friday were 11th-seeded Lucie Safarova, 16th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, 22nd-seeded Andrea Petkovic, 23rd-seeded Madison Keys, 24th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and 29th-seeded Sabine Lisicki.

Previous:

• Williams Sisters Set To Play at BNP Paribas Open In Indian Wells
• Main Draw Men's Singles Play To Begin at BNP Paribas Open
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• Women's, Men's Singles Qualifying Play Happening at BNP Paribas Open
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--City News Service/Morguefile photo