Former Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie kicked off his bid for a second Masters title in California with a dominant 6-0 6-3 win over Luca Nardi in Wednesday's first-round battle.
The 29-year-old - who clinched the Indian Wells crown in 2021 for his first and only ATP 1000 win to date - made extremely light work of Nardi with a 6-0 6-3 victory in just 64 minutes.
Banishing the demons from his chastening loss to the juvenile Learner Tien in his opening match in Acapulco a couple of weeks ago, Norrie served six aces and won 88% of points behind his first serve against a beleaguered Nardi.
The former Wimbledon semi-finalist also benefitted from unforced errors and double faults from his Italian foe to secure a bagel in his first set of the tournament, and he needed just the one break to love in the second set before converting his first match point.
Norrie's second-round opponent will be 23rd seed Jiri Lehecka, whom he boasts a 2-1 head-to-head lead against, although the Czech player won their last meeting in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open.
Elsewhere on day one, two former Grand Slam champions in Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova suffered first-round exits to Camila Osorio and Varvara Gracheva respectively; Osorio's win saw her make history as the first Colombian to beat a former world number one since the WTA Rankings were established in 1975.
Victoria Azarenka also wrote her name into the record books by beating Clervie Ngounoue 6-4 7-6[7], as she registered her 159th WTA 1000 hard-court win, overtaking Caroline Wozniacki for the most all-time.
Is Emma Raducanu playing at Indian Wells today?
© Imago
Following the first batch of first-round matches, the opening ties continue on Thursday evening UK time, where Emma Raducanu will commence her bid for stardom against Moyuka Uchijima.
Raducanu - who is bidding to set up a tantalising second-round match with Coco Gauff - is one of three Brits in action on the second day, as lucky loser Sonay Kartal faces Varvara Lepchenko later on Thursday.
In the men's draw, meanwhile, Jacob Fearnley will take on Brazilian teenage wild card Joao Fonseca, and his reward for winning will be an all-British second-round showdown with 13th seed Jack Draper.
Draper's fellow British number one Katie Boulter also kicks off her Indian Wells campaign on Friday, where she will face Irina-Camelia Begu following the Romanian's triumph over Ann Li.
Ben Knapton
