Ex-Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova Falls In Indian Wells First Round

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, on the comeback trail seven months after giving birth to a son, was ousted in the first round at Indian Wells on Wednesday by France's 70th-ranked Varvara Gracheva. The Czech, who welcomed son Petr last July, was playing her second tournament since her return from an 18-month maternity leave but remains in search of her first match win. Wednesday's match looked a lot like her loss to Jodie Burrage in Austin last week, with Kvitova unable to close it out after pocketing the first set.

Gracheva, 24, was full of admiration for her 34-year-old opponent, who lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.

"If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her," Gracheva said. "Because she had a child quite recently, and I'm so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It's very inspiring for sports, athletes, women -- it's just amazing."

All 32 men's and women's seeds have first round byes in this combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 tournament, the first leg of the US hard court "Sunshine Double" that will conclude in Miami.

Gracheva lined up a second-round meeting with ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old Russian who ousted three Grand Slam winners on the way to becoming the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion in Dubai last month.

Former world number one Naomi Osaka, who returned from a 15-month break last year after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023, headlines the night session taking on Colombian Camila Osorio.

Japan's Osaka, who won her first WTA title at Indian Wells in 2018, hasn't played since the Australian Open, where she retired from her third-round match with an abdominal strain.

In other early