Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan was among players winning women’s singles qualifying matches Tuesday to earn spots in the main draw for the 2019 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament.
The 10th-seeded Diyas was a 7-6 (4), 7-5 winner over Santa Monica resident Nicole Gibbs in two hours, one minute at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Diyas is 94th on the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings, the unseeded Gibbs 123rd.
Other early winners Tuesday included 14th-seeded Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland, who defeated sixth-seeded Katie Boulter of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-3, in 1:24 and 17th-seeded Natalie Vikhlyantseva of Russia, who defeated fifth-seeded Dalia Jakupovic of Slovenia, 7-6 (2), 6-1, in 1:25.
The winner of each of Tuesday’s 12 women’s matches will receive a spot in the 96-player singles main draw.
The featured women’s qualifying match pits 34-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva against 26-year-old American Christina McHale in the third match on Stadium 4. Zvonareva was the 2009 BNP Paribas Open women’s singles champion.
Zvonareva was a Wimbledon and U.S. Open finalist in 2010 when she was a career-best second in the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings. She is now ranked 80th. McHale, a resident of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, is ranked 140th. Her career-best ranking is 24th, achieved in 2012.
Zvonareva is seeded fourth in the qualifying draw, while McHale is unseeded. Zvonareva defeated unseeded Russian Irina Khromacheva, 6-2, 6-3, in 1:11 Monday. McHale was a 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 winner over 24th-seeded Fanny Stollar of Hungary in 1:53 Monday.
Catherine McNally is the other American seeking a spot in the main draw. The unseeded 17-year-old will meet 19th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the third match on Stadium 3.
McNally defeated eighth-seeded Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic, 2-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, in 2:35 on Monday. The Cincinnati resident received a wild card into the qualifying draw because she was not ranked high enough. She reached last year’s French Open girls’ singles final.
The 29-year-old Bacsinszky was a 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 winner over unseeded countrywomen Conny Perrin in 1:50 Monday. Bacsinszky was a French Open singles semifinalist in 2015 and 2017.
The women’s winners Tuesday are assured of at least $16,425, while the losers will receive $6,790.
Unseeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic was among the winners on the opening day of men’s qualifying play, defeating former world No. 17 Bernard Tomic of Australia, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3 in 1:46.
Tomic was seeded fourth in qualifying and is 82nd on the ATP singles rankings. Rosol is ranked 140th.
The men’s winners Tuesday are assured of at least $6,790, while the losers will receive $3,395.
Rafael Nadal, the world’s No. 2-ranked men’s singles player, leads the eight-player field for the Eisenhower Cup Tie Break Tens event beginning at 7 p.m. on Stadium 2. Tie Break Tens consists solely of tiebreakers, with the first player to 10 points winning.
The field also includes Stan Wawrinka, who has reached as high as No. 3 on the ATP men’s singles rankings, and 2018 French Open finalist Dominic Thiem.
Tickets are $25. All proceeds will benefit four Coachella Valley charities — the Eisenhower Medical Center, Bighorn Golf Club Charities, Family YMCA of the Desert and Patient Safety Movement Foundation.
Women’s main draw play is scheduled to begin Wednesday and men’s main draw play on Thursday.