Williams Sisters Set To Play at BNP Paribas Open In Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, CA - The seeded players will make their debuts in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden today as second-round women's singles play begins, featuring the Williams sisters.

Venus Williams, who is seeded 10th, will play in the tournament for the first time since 2001, facing qualifier Kurumi Nara of Japan in the third match in Stadium 1. Serena Williams, who is seeded first, will play in the night session, facing another qualifier, Laura Siegemund of Germany.

This is the first time since 2001 both Williams sisters have played in the tournament.

Venus Williams wrote on the website The Players Tribune that she is returning to the tournament after "seeing Serena welcomed with open arms last year at Indian Wells, that I think I fully and truly realized what being the
big sister means.

"It means that, for all of the things I did first, and all of the times when I paved the way for Serena, the thing I can be most proud of is this time. When Serena paved the way for me.''

Serena Williams returned to the tournament last year after not playing since being relentlessly booed throughout the 2001 final. She reached the semifinals, then withdrew due to a right knee injury. She wrote in a column published on the website Time.com that she was returning to the tournament in a spirit of "forgiveness.''

The sisters were booed by fans when their 2001 semifinal match was scrubbed due to an injury suffered by Venus. After the match, another player who was asked in a news conference who would have won the match between the
sisters said their father, Richard, would probably decide -- an insinuation that their matches were rigged.

"The false allegations that our matches were fixed hurt, cut and ripped into us deeply,'' Serena Williams wrote. "The under-current of racism was painful, confusing and unfair. In a game I loved with all my heart, at one of my most cherished tournaments, I suddenly felt unwelcome, alone and afraid.''

The 35-year-old Venus Williams will be playing in a tournament for the first time since winning last month's Taiwan Open.

Today's match will be the 34-year-old Serena Williams' first in a tournament since her three-set loss to Angelique Kerber in the final of the Australian Open in January.

All 32 seeded players in the 96-player women's singles draw received first-round byes.

Today's losers in women's singles play will each receive $19,530, while the winners are guaranteed of at least $36,170.

Men's first-round singles play will conclude today. All 32 seeded players in the 96-player draws received first-round byes.

Today's losers in men's singles play will receive $11,970, while the winners are guaranteed of at least $19,530.
Thursday's night results included Canadian Eugenia Bouchard defeating Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Juan Martin del Porto defeated American qualifier Tim Smyczek, 6-4, 6-0, in the other night singles match.

In other play Thursday, 18-year-old Taylor Fritz, the youngest player in the top 100 of the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings, lost to fellow American Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Thursday's losing players -- both men and women -- received $11,970, while the winners are guaranteed of at least $19,530.

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--City News Service