American Angela Haynes secured her place in the BNP Paribas Open women's main draw, defeating Slovakian Jarmila Groth 6-3, 7-6(2) in the final round of qualification Tuesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The 24-year-old Californian saved all five point break points faced on serve in the second set before going on the close out the match in the tie-break.
Haynes will be playing in the Indian Wells main draw for the fourth time, having received wild card entry in her past three appearances. She reached the second round in 2005 (l. to Sharapova) and ‘08 (l. to Hantuchova).
Fellow American Varvara Lepchenko (pictured) qualified for the BNP Paribas Open main draw for the first time in four attempts, dismissing Slovenian Masa Zec Peskiric 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old, who currently resides in Pennsylvania, entered the week ranked a career-high No. 120.
The French contingent faltered in their qualification bid with Stephanie Foretz the only woman from her country to make her way into the main draw. The 104th-ranked Foretz ousted compatriot Camille Pin 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and seven minutes, and will be making her fifth appearance in the Indian Wells main draw. Frenchwomen Aravane Rezai, Severine Bremond, Julie Coin and Mathilde Johansson all followed Pin out of the qualification draw.
Nine players all from different countries round out the women’s qualifiers at the 2009 BNP Paribas Open: Czech Petra Cetkovska, German Kristina Barrois, Russian Evgeniya Rodina, Portugal’s Michelle Larcherde Brito, Canadian Stephanie Dubois, Bulgarian Anastasiya Yakimova, Croatia’s Petra Martic, Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual and Kazakhstani Yaroslava Shvedova.
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