Genie Bouchard of Canada was points away from losing on Thursday night in the BNP Paribas Open's first round, but the current world No. 42 overpowered qualifier world No. 125 Risa Ozaki of Japan 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the tournament

"My opponent played really well," Bouchard said during her on-court interview. "She was getting a lot of balls back, and she really made me work for it. It was a tough first round here, but I'm glad to be through to the second round."

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Bouchard had a hard time finding her rhythm throughout the match inside the Stadium 1, but was able to make it through and set an encounter with the American Sloane Stephens, who is the No. 21 seed.

World No. 62 Christina McHale of the United States made a positive start to her Indian Wells campaign with a two straight sets 6-4, 6-4 triumph over the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who currently holds the 41st rank in the world.

"I knew I had to serve well because Caroline is so aggressive and I knew I had to get a lot of first serves in today, and it worked today so I'm excited," McHale said.

The New Jersey native McHale will be playing the No. 4 seed and world No. 4 Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the second round. 

Chinese No.2 and current world No. 69 Zhang Shuai, who was a wildcard in the tournament, advances to the second round of the tennis event after her opponent Pauline Parmentier of France retired from the match.

The Chinese tennis sensation, who made a remarkable Cinderella run to reach the Australian Open's quarterfinals, won the first set of the match 7-6, before the Frenchwoman quit the match.

TagsZhang Shuai, Eugenie Bouchard, wta, bnp paribas open, christina mchale, ITF