When Nicole Gibbs woke up on Monday morning, she was one of four #TeamSoCal women looking to surge their way into the second round of the BNP Paribas Open qualifier. By the time a late afternoon sun disappeared behind the desert mountains, Gibbs was the lone survivor after a rough and tumble first day of competition at Indian Wells.
The unseeded world #123 from Santa Monica (who celebrated her birthday on Sunday) advanced to Tuesday’s bracket with a routine straight set win over #16 Fiona Ferro, and will meet #10 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in their first career meeting (11am Tuesday, Stadium 4). Gibbs landed 70% of her first serves on Monday, and scored on first serves at the same percentage.
Ashley Kratzer (Newport Beach) was the first SoCal player to fall on Monday, a straight set loss to Kateryna Kozlova. Kratzer had won their only previous meeting, but on Monday struggled with eight double faults in 4-6, 1-6 defeat.
Arcadia’s Danielle Lao and Claire Liu (Thousand Oaks) each needed an opening round win to meet each other in the qualifier’s second round on Tuesday, but the SoCal upstarts both succumbed on Day One. Lao struggled with #11 Sorana Cirstea in their first career match-up. Cirstea relentlessly attacked Lao’s backhand and her second serve, just enough to notch a 6-3, 6-4 win on Stadium 5.
Opposite Japan’s Nao Hibino, Claire Liu was unable to capitalize on two service breaks, giving back five more to Hibino in a 6-3, 6-3 loss. Hibino and Cirstea will face off Tuesday to stay alive in the Women’s draw.
MEN’S QUALIFIER BEGINS TUESDAY
The Men’s qualifier kicks off on Tuesday, and #TeamSoCal has a couple of strong contenders in the mix. Former NCAA singles champion (UCLA) Marcos Giron, the 25-year old from Thousand Oaks, has reached career high ranks in both singles and doubles this year after opening the 2019 campaign with an impressive ATP Challenger title in Orlando. He opens his Indian Wells campaign opposite Thomas Fabbiano, the #5 seed, on Tuesday (11am, Stadium 9).
JC Aragone (Yorba Linda) faces off against veteran Henri Laaksonen (Stadium 4, after 12pm) on Tuesday. Aragone has never faced the well-traveled Laaksonen, Ironically, Aragone and Giron teamed together last month at Indian Wells to win a doubles Challenger title.
Be sure to follow #TeamSocal on all of our USTA Southern California channels and platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as at ustasocal.com. We’re on site following all of your locals as they compete for the BNP title in their own backyard!