INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 08: Serena Williams of the United States celebrates her women’s singles second round match victory against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Day 5 of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 08, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images/AFP
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday night.
Both players returned from maternity leave a year ago at the desert tournament. Since then, Williams has reached two Grand Slam finals and returned to the world’s top 10.
“It’s been an arduous road,” Williams said. “I think we both really appreciate both of our efforts to do the best that we can do.”
Azarenka is still seeking to restore order in her personal life, having been involved in a legal tussle over her young son.
Williams needed just over two hours to close out the match. She had four aces and nine double faults and saved 11 of 15 break points.
Williams and Azarenka were meeting for the first time since their 2016 final at Indian Wells, which Azarenka won.
“As much as she’s the toughest opponent I have ever played in my life, she’s my favorite person to play against,” Azarenka said. “Why I still play is because I enjoy the challenges. If it’s easy, if it’s boring, I don’t want to play.”
The two women shared an embrace at the net afterward.
Earlier, Sloane Stephens lost to Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0 in just more than an hour.
The fourth-seeded American committed 32 unforced errors, while Voegele had four aces playing in windy conditions. Voegele improved to 4-1 against the 2017 U.S. Open champion.
No. 2 seed Simona Halep beat Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-4. Other seeded winners were: No. 7 Kiki Bertens, No. 12 Ashleigh Barty, No. 16 Elise Mertens, No. 20 Garbine Muguruza, No. 22 Jelana Ostapenko and No. 18 Qiang Wang.
Stephens wasn’t the only seed to be ousted on the women’s side.
No. 14 Daria Kasatkina, a finalist last year, lost to Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 6-1; No. 19 Caroline Garcia lost to Jennifer Brady 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; No. 27 Su-Wei Hsieh was beaten by Johanna Konta 6-0, 6-2; and No. 29 Mihaela Buzarnescu lost to Daria Gavrilova 6-2, 6-2.
Bianca Andreescu, an 18-year-old Canadian, beat No. 32 Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2.
In men’s opening-round matches, Steve Johnson beat fellow American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-3, and Stan Wawrinka edged Daniel Evans 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3. Also advancing were Feliciano Lopez and Hubert Hurkacz.
American Mackenzie McDonald got by Joao Sousa 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Novak Djokovic, the world’s top-ranked player, won his first-round doubles match with Fabio Fognini. They beat Jeremy Chardy and Milos Raonic 7-6 (5), 6-1.