Summary Petra Kvitova beat Olga Govortsova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to advance in the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS (AFP) - Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova survived 10 double faults to beat Olga Govortsova in three sets Friday and reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Kvitova, the women s fifth seed in the combined ATP Masters and WTA hard court tournament, needed two hours and 20 minutes to subdue Govortsova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on a blustery day in the California desert.
The hard-hitting Czech, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and arrived at Indian Wells fresh from a tournament triumph in Dubai, next faces Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, who downed Kazakhstan s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
Friday s slate was highlighted by second-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova s second-round opener against former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.
Sharapova, the 2006 champion here, was beaten in straight sets in last year s final by Victoria Azarenka, the top seed who was due to open her campaign on Saturday against two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova.
Sharapova captured her fourth Grand Slam singles title at the French Open last year, regaining the world No. 1 ranking for four weeks for her first spell at the top since 2008.
However, she s playing just her third tournament of 2013. After withdrawing from Brisbane with a right collarbone injury she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Doha.
Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska was also in action, taking on US wild card Maria Sanchez, who is making her third appearance in the main draw of a WTA event.
Radwanska, ranked fourth in the world, has already nabbed two titles this year, at Auckland and Sydney.
With all of the 32 men s and women s seeds enjoying first-round byes, men s action was still in the first round.
