Tennis News

Last month, the tennis community was dealt an interesting piece of news, as world No. 1 Serena Williams announced her long awaited return to Indian Wells following a 14-year absence from the tournament. The top seed will begin her first campaign in the American desert since 2001, where she will meet Monica Niculescu in the second round of the tournament. It will be the first ever career meeting between the two players.

Follow the match Live Here: Williams vs Niculescu Live Streaming

Williams vowed never to return to Indian Wells after being ferociously booed at the 2001 final against Kim Clijsters, after sister Venus withdrew from the match hours before the final. Her return to the event this year would have marked a significant step in a potential reconciliation between the two parties.

The American hasn’t played on the WTA tour since her Australian Open title win in January. She defeated a gauntlet of tough opponents during that time, including Garbine Muguruza, Dominika Cibulkova, Madison Keys, and Maria Sharapova. She most recently played in the opening round of the Fed Cup tie against Argentina, where she defeated Maria Irigoyen 7-5, 6-0.

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Williams will come up against Monica Niculescu in her opening match at Indian Wells. She defeated Aleksandra Krunic, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the second round of the Premier event. The Romanian won 70% of her first service points and converted five break points to close out the win in 1 hour and 14 minutes.

She will now be faced with the daunting task of playing Serena Williams in her highly advertised return from a self-imposed exile.

“I don’t really know what to expect because we haven’t played before,” Niculescu said. “But obviously I know she has a lot of power, and I know I’m going to run a lot. I’m just going to play my game.

“She’s playing great and she wins this tournament every time. Hopefully I can play my best.”

This marks the first time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour. Williams will look to make a successful return to Indian Wells, and will be a heavy favourite to win the match and advance to the third round of the tournament.

Prediction: Serena Williams in Straight Sets

The 2014 season was clearly a disappointing one for Victoria Azarenka. She finished it with a 15-9 record without adding any titles to her cabinet – and, more importantly, she was unable to stay reasonably fit for its larger part. Plenty of careers were ruined by injuries before, so many of her fans were asking the same question – is she ever going to come back and return to the heights at which she was staying in the last couple of years?

Well, after February, it seems safe to say that Victoria Azarenka has managed to produce a successful comeback and that all those worries turned out to be unfounded. The first match she played ended in a defeat, but that has been the only big mistake she’s made so far in her comeback season. Since that loss, she has beaten Caroline Wozniacki (twice!), Angelique Kerber, and even her nemesis, Venus Williams, so it seems that only sky is the limit for her this year. It took a perfect performance from Dominika Cibulkova to stop her in Melbourne and one can also find suitable excuses for her loss against Lucie Safarova in Doha, so negatives are indeed rather scarce for the player from Belarus, who also seems rather unfazed by the departure of her long-time coach.

What’s more, while Azarenka seems to be on the rise, her closest rivals appear to be following a somewhat downward spiral. The top two seems to be reserved for Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, but the other spots are very much for the taking, with Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwanska all showing suspect form in the first two months of the new season. Eugenie Bouchard, who’s probably responsible for the departure of Sam Sumyk, seems to be focused on other things than playing tennis, while Ana Ivanovic is yet to prove that she’s capable of going far in the Grand Slams.

So how high can Azarenka realistically aim for? An optimist would probably say the top six, a pessimist would probably stay at top fifteen, but the bottom line is that she should get to the top fifteen at the very least if her body holds up, a question that will be asked again after the finals in Doha. Apart from that, nobody can question her hunger for success at the moment – and that was what got her the two Grand Slam titles in the first place.

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