Poor performance! Zheng Qinwen suffers second-round exit at Indian Wells

On March 7, 2026, the WTA1000 Indian Wells tournament continued with the second round of singles matches. Chinese star and 24th seed Zheng Qinwen made her debut in this year's event. After a fierce battle lasting 1 hour and 54 minutes, she lost 4-6/5-7 to Croatian player Ružić, failing to secure an opening victory.

Zheng Qinwen

This season, Zheng Qinwen returned to competition at the Doha tournament, where she won two consecutive three-set matches to reach the quarterfinals, ultimately losing to this year's Australian Open champion Rybakina. Subsequently, Zheng Qinwen opted to withdraw from the Dubai tournament and continued her comeback journey at the North American Sunshine Double. In this match, Zheng Qinwen secured a break first in the opening set but failed to extend her lead. After missing two break points in the ninth game, she was seized upon by her opponent in the tenth game, losing the first set 4-6. In the second set, Zheng Qinwen suffered a break in the sixth game where her opponent won four consecutive points. Trailing 2-5, she rallied with a 12-2 scoring run to level the set, but faltered again in the subsequent two games, losing 5-7.

Throughout the match, Zheng Qinwen's first-serve success rate was only 53%, and her second-serve win rate was merely 45%. She hit 4 aces but also committed 5 double faults. Last year, Zheng Qinwen reached the women's singles quarterfinals at Indian Wells. With the loss of 205 ranking points this time, her live ranking dropped three places to No.26.

In other matches, second seed Świątek defeated Day 6-0/7-6(2); third seed Rybakina overcame Baptiste 7-6(5)/2-6/6-2; defending champion and eighth seed Andreyeva crushed Argentine player Sierra 6-0/6-0, all securing smooth passage in their tournament debuts. Siniakova battled for 3 hours and 28 minutes, defeating 27th seed Fernández 5-7/6-4/7-6(1) to narrowly advance.

Results from other women's singles matches

[12] Bencic 6-3/6-2 Hunter[Q]

[13] Muchová 7-5/6-2 Bondár

Krueger 3-6/7-5/6-2 Samsonova[19]

Katar 6-1/3-6/7-6(2) Navarro[20]

[22] Mertens 6-2/6-1 Bucșa

[26] Ostapenko 6-4/7-6(5) Volynets[W]

[32] Sakkari 7-5/6-0 Tagle[W]

Alcaraz

In the men's singles arena, world number one Alcaraz made his debut, needing only 66 minutes to defeat Bulgarian veteran Dimitrov 6-2/6-3, powerfully securing an opening victory with his 13th consecutive win of the new season. Third seed Djokovic fought through three sets, reversing Polish player Mierzak 4-6/6-1/6-2, marking his first victory at this tournament after two years. 14th seed Draper reversed Spanish veteran Agut in his first match 3-6/6-3/6-2, extending his personal winning streak at this event to seven matches, successfully taking the first step in his title defense.

In other matches, sixth seed de Minaur reversed Korda 4-6/6-4/6-4; 13th seed Ruud overcame Shevchenko 6-1/7-6(4); 19th seed F. Cerundolo narrowly defeated Bonzi 6-4/5-7/7-6(5). 16th seed Khachanov missed two match points in the second set, ultimately being reversed by Brazilian rising star Fonseca 6-4/6-7(7)/4-6, failing to secure victory; 17th seed Rublev also halted in the second round, losing to Diallo 7-6(4)/6-7(1)/3-6.

Results from other men's singles matches

[Q] Hijikata 4-6/6-2/6-4 Darderi[20]

Kovačević 6-1/6-4 Mutai[31]

[24] Vacherot 7-5/7-5 Borges

[26] Lindknecth W/O J. Cerundolo

[27] Norrie 6-2/6-3 McDonald[Q]

Full schedule for March 9

(Text and editing: Dato, Image: Visual China)