INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP)—Mardy Fish, the BNP Paribas Open runner-up in 2008, beat Michael Berrer of Germany, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in a first-round match Thursday at the Tennis Garden.
Fish, 28, sidelined most of the second half of last season due to a fractured rib and left knee surgery, will face No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who won that 2008 final in three sets and is 3-0 against him.
“I feel like I can beat him but I haven’t,” Fish said of Djokovic. And for a while against Berrer, it didn’t look as if he’d get to try again.
“I’ve played a lot of matches out here. I’ve lost a lot of first sets,” Fish said. “This seems like the majority these days. It comes with the territory. It’s just experience, saying ‘Look, there’s a long way to go. You feel you’re better than this guy. Just bear down.”’
Ryan Harrison beat doubles partner Taylor Dent, 6-3, 6-4 to become the first 17-year-old to win in this tournament since Rafael Nadal in 2004.
Earlier in the day, Melanie Oudin made another quick exit, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 to Roberta Vinci in their first-round match.
The 18-year-old Oudin, a quarterfinalist at last year’s U.S. Open, had reached at least the quarterfinals in her two most recent events. This was her second straight first-round loss here.
Sloane Stephens, one of two 16-year-olds in the BNP Paribas Open field, celebrated her first match on the main WTA Tour with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) triumph over Lucie Hradecka.
Stephens led 5-2 in the second set and had match point on serve in the ninth game, then had to rally from 3-6 down in the second-set tiebreaker.
“I wasn’t getting nervous,” Stephens said. “She started playing a lot more. Before, she was hitting a lot of balls off the court and I was waiting for the error. She made me play at the end.”
Stephens said she’ll remember hitting an ace down the middle of the court to get to 6-all in the second-set tiebreaker. She couldn’t recall the final shot of the match, though, but said “it was a good moment.”
Fellow American Shenay Perry didn’t fare as well as Stephens, losing to Karolina Sprem, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Others moving into the second round were Julia Goerges, Julie Coin, Anastasija Sevastova, Alexandra Dulgheru, Tsvetana Pironkova, Sara Errani, Petra Martic and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.
In a late match, Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 7-5.
In the men’s draw, former No. 1 Carlos Moya led the advance to the second round, though the Spaniard made more than 50 unforced errors and struggled mightily to beat American qualifier Tim Smyczek, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5), and Ernests Gulbis beat Marco Chiudinelli 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Others advancing in early matches were Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Florent Serra, Fabio Fognini, Pablo Cuevas, Ramon Delgado, Philipp Petzschner, Kevin Anderson, Brian Dabul, Mario Ancic, Daniel Koellerer, Rainer Schuettler and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The seeded women will begin play Friday after first round byes, with No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki facing Vania King in the opening match.
Friday night will be highlighted by the Hit for Haiti charity fundraiser. In that, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras will play Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi in one doubles match and Steffi Graf and Lindsay Davenport will play Justine Henin and Martina Navratilova. The event, which also will feature singer Tony Bennett, is a sellout at the 16,100-seat Tennis Garden and the goal is to raise $1 million for victims of the earthquake.