Garden Party

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This is the first year in a decade that I haven’t been at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for its busy opening weekend (I get there on Wednesday). Watching from home, I was reminded of what a TV-friendly event the BNP Paribas Open can be in the early going. The top players, as they do at the majors, shuttle on and off throughout the day; unlike at a major, though, they’re all done in two-out-of-three sets. There’s more weight on each point here.

I’m not saying I want to end three-of-five at the Slams—there’s no reason, when those events are so popular, to make them smaller and give people less tennis—but it does mean that Indian Wells moves along at a brisk and entertaining clip. Tennis Channel, as it bounced between courts and interviews, did a nice job this weekend of making the event lull-free.

Before we move too far into Monday, here’s a look at four early-round developments, and a preview of an upcoming one.

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Nick the (Too) Quick

Perhaps the best stadium-court match so far was Grigor Dimitrov’s 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3) win over Nick Kyrgios. It’s too bad it will be remembered for what one of the players didn’t do, rather than for what one of them did. At 4-4 in the third, Kyrgios had a break point. Running for a forehand, he rolled his ankle and fell; distracted, Dimitrov missed his next forehand. On the changeover, Kyrgios called for a trainer before waving him off and walking out, gingerly, to serve for the match. Unable to fully run, and unsettled mentally, he was broken. Kyrgios is a notoriously speedy player; on one point yesterday, he was into his service motion before the ball girl had picked up the ball that he had tapped back to her. Maybe this will teach him that slowing down isn’t always a bad thing; if nothing else, talking to the trainer would have given him a chance to compose himself.

While Kyrgios and his ankle were the story of the match, just as significant was the way Dimitrov finished it. After handing over the break at 4-4, he ignored the struggles of his opponent and played his best tennis of the day down the stretch. Dimitrov will face Tommy Robredo next, and possibly Milos Raonic after that.

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'Merica First

Indian Wells is the season’s first big event in the States, and it showed on Sunday when four Americans—Sloane Stephens, Donald Young, Jack Sock, and Stevie Johnson—pulled off modestly surprising victories (Serena Williams also won, but that was hardly a surprise). Young beat a quality opponent, Jeremy Chardy; Sock survived a third-set tiebreaker against Gilles Muller; Johnson survived Ivo Karlovic and his serve; and Sloane cracked winners when she needed them most, at 5-4 in the third against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Based on what we saw yesterday, it isn't grit that the U.S. players lack.

Can they keep going? Young faces Nadal, Sloane faces Serena, Johnson faces Berdych. Only Sock, who plays Roberto Bautista Agut, seems to have a plausible chance of winning again.

Stephens, though, remains the biggest question mark. Is she back where she belongs, with old coach Nick Saviano? Was her clutch, last-game win over over Kuznetsova a one-day thing, or a sign of more to come? Sloane made the quarterfinals here last year, and didn’t make it that far again all season.

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Karolina, Timea, and Elina FTW

You can tell who won a match just by looking at the players’ faces as they shake hands, right? No matter how business-like or friendly they try to appear, success and failure are impossible to fake. Unless, it seems, you’re Karolina Pliskova. I tuned in yesterday just as she was shaking hands with Garbine Muguruza and assumed that the stone-faced Pliskova had lost to the slightly smiling Spaniard. Not so—Pliskova, the WTA's fastest riser so far in 2015, had won in straight sets. Pliskova, as anyone who has watched her play knows, brings an iciness to the court, one that doesn’t always melt away with a victory. She’s not remote, though, just no-nonsense, and her timing alone makes her a fun player to watch. Pliskova will face Simona Halep next, in a shot-maker’s special.

I wish I could say that I had seen some of Timea Bacsinszky’s upset win over Ekaterina Makarova on Sunday. In fact, I have yet to see any of Bacsinszky’s recent run of success—the Swiss came to Indian Wells having won two straight events. Next for her will be another surging young player, Elina Svitolina, an upset winner over 10th seed Lucie Safarova.

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Spring Tinkering

Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Murray: None lost a set in their openers, and all appear to be healthy and in-form. Nadal has even gone into tinkering mode: He says he’s trying to serve “quicker”—i.e., harder—in an effort to win more free points. His first-serve percentage was notably lower than normal in his first match, something he chalked up to his riskier approach. We’ll see how it works going forward. Judging by his draw here—Donald Young next, and possibly Gilles Simon after that—Rafa has chosen an opportune moment to experiment.

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Third-Round Showdown

Monday-night matches don’t come any bigger or potentially better than the one between Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka this evening. The two have split their 13 meetings down the middle—Vika has won seven, Maria six. Sharapova won the last two, at the WTA Championships in 2012 and the French Open in 2013, but Azarenka won their only meeting at Indian Wells, also in 2012, 6-2, 6-3, and she has a 7-3 record against the Russian on hard courts. Sharapova, this year's Australian Open finalist, has been in solid form in 2015, while Azarenka is still in rebuilding mode after an injury-plagued 2014. She has shown flashes of her best, but has yet to sustain it. This will be the biggest test of her comeback; if she can beat a confident Maria here, Vika’s rebuilding period may be over. Winner: Sharapova