On a bright, sunny Saturday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, fans lined up early to get into Stadium 2 to witness Coco Gauff open accounts at the 2025 BNP Paribas Open. The 2023 US Open champion is adored wherever she goes, but the affection is particularly poignant in Tennis Paradise, where many hope to see Gauff hope to be the one to break the 24-year title drought that currently haunts the American women in the California desert. 

Not since Serena Williams raised the trophy in 2001 has an American woman done the deal in the California desert. 

She’s one stop closer after a tumultuous three-set victory over Japane’s Moyuka Uchijima, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4). Gauff snapped a three-match losing streak in the process, and won her first match since the Australian Open. 

“It wasn’t my best tennis at all today,” a relieved Gauff told the crowd. “Just happy to get through. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, so I am just happy to get a win on the court.” 

How does Gauff define a tough couple of weeks? 

“Not winning,” the No. 3 seed said with a smile. “A tough couple of weeks on court. In life, I’m chilling – I’m good. 

“No one likes to lose, so I came in here with determination. It wasn’t my best tennis but at the end of the day a win is a win.” 

To say it was a struggle for Gauff would be putting it lightly. 

The American committed 74 unforced errors against 37 winners, 21 of those errors being double-faults, which matches a career-high number. The soon to be 21-year-old only managed to win 11 of 44 points behind her second serve in total, and she faced 19 break points and was broken eight times. 

Scenic route, absolutely – Gauff squandered a 4-0 lead in the final set and failed to convert on match points at 5-3 and 5-4 against Uchijima – but good enough to beat a world-class opponent. 

There’s a reason Gauff is the top-ranked American and considered a legitimate threat to win the title next week at Indian Wells. In the end her character and athleticism was on display as she played several breathtaking points in the final set tiebreak to finally finish off the pesky World No.52 in two hours and 33 minutes.

Gauff finally converted her fifth match point of the afternoon, sending the sun-splashed faithful into hearty applause; her win sets a third-round clash with two-time finalist Maria Sakkari.

Keys Unlocks Another Victory 

Madison Keys and her sunny demeanor kicked off festivities on Stadium 1 with a breezy 6-3 6-0 win over 2024 quarterfinalist Anastasia Potapova. The 2025 Australian Open winner, playing her first competitive match since she stunned Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s singles in Melbourne, looked every bit the Grand Slam champion that she is. 

If she was nervous, the 30-year-old juggernaut didn’t show it. Keys needed just 63 minutes to stroll into the third round, cracking 28 winners against just 10 unforced errors to set a third-round clash with Elise Mertens. 

Making her 12th appearance at Indian Wells, Keys is seeking to beat her best career performance, a quarterfinal in 2022. 

As far as being introduced as a Grand Slam champion for the first time, Keys said:  “It's a title I'm getting used to and very happy to be associated with, but definitely a good position to be in.” 

World No. 5 Keys stretches her personal winning streak to 13 and improves to 15-1 on the season with her victory. 

Were there nerves? Some, said Keys, but not enough to derail her. 

“I think there is obviously a little bit of extra nerves, and that's just kind of the reality of the situation right now,” she told reporters a few hours after her win. “But I think, being honest with myself and just knowing that that's going to be there, I was able to expect it and kind of know how to navigate that.”

Sabalenka has the hunger again 

Aryna Sabalenka is feeling refreshed in the California desert and it showed on Saturday night as the World No. 1 battled past rising American McCartney Kessler 7-6(4), 6-3 to set a third-round clash with Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. 

“She played incredible tennis,” 2023 runner-up Sabalenka said of 25-year-old Kessler. “I'd say she handled the pressure pretty well. It was a great match, and I am just super happy to win this tough second round.”

Sabalenka says she is feeling hungry for the fight once again, after recovering emotionally from her loss to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final. She lost two of three matches in the Middle East in Dubai. 

“I'm hungrier than I was in the Middle East,” she said. “I'd say that the final in Australia was really heartbreaking. It was very difficult to recover after that one, and [in the] Middle East I was kind of like, in my thoughts, I was trying to understand. I was always thinking about that match.