Two former World No.1s had contrasting fortunes in their long-awaited returns to the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday: Caroline Wozniacki won, but Venus Williams lost in first-round matches that were previously suspended on Tuesday night due to rain. 

Making her first appearance in Indian Wells in five years, Wozniacki finished her 7-6(6), 6-1 win over China's Zhu Lin first -- as the 2018 Australian Open champion won six games in a row when play resumed on Stadium 2 Thursday afternoon. The first set, played in its entirety the previous night, had several twists and turns, but Wozniacki eventually grabbed it on her fourth set point after over an hour on court, shortly before rain came; she had previously led 4-2 (after Zhu led 2-0), and had a set point on Zhu’s serve in the 12th game. At 5-5, Wozniacki crucially saved a pair of break points that would’ve seen Zhu serve for the set.

"Yesterday was such a grind. We started off in pretty perfect weather: little sunny, slight wind, then all of a sudden, it was so windy, impossible to put three balls in the court. Then the rain delay, we came back and forth a couple of times, then today, I was like, 'No more messing around, gotta get this done,'" Wozniacki joked on Tennis Channel afterwards.

Wozniacki is an even 6-6 in six events since her return to tennis last summer after a more than three-year retirement -- and her win against Zhu is her first completed victory since the US Open. (In three events so far this year, her only victory came when Magda Linette retired in the first round of Australian Open.)

"I felt like, going into Australia, I was playing extremely well. Practice, winning sets right and left and doing all the right things," Wozniacki said. "Had I won that [second-round] match [against Maria Timofeeva], I felt like the draw was open, so that was a big disappointment for me.

"And now, I'm starting to feel my tennis coming back, so I just hope my body can hold up, and we'll see. The sky's the limit."

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A run of consecutive games also ended Williams' hopes for reaching the second round, in her first match action since last summer's US Open. Japanese qualifier Nao Hibino ran off 10 straight games from 6-2, 3-2 down to end Williams' first appearance in Indian Wells in five years at the first hurdle. Notably, Hibino broke Williams from 40-0 down at 3-3, and 40-15 down at 5-3 in the second set, and saved three break points in the first game of the final set.

The pair had only completed two games on Wednesday night before play was called.

Wozniacki advances to a second-round meeting with No.25 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia, while Hibino is the first foe for No.17 seed Veronika Kudermetova.