Former World No.1 Angelique Kerber posted her first Top 100 win since coming back from maternity leave in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Petra Martic 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 29 minutes. She will next face No.10 seed Jelena Ostapenko.

However, 2021 Indian Wells champion Paula Badosa was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a lower back injury. The Spaniard had been due to face fellow wild card Ashlyn Krueger in the Wednesday night session; she has been replaced in the draw by lucky loser Nadia Podoroska.

Kerber gave birth to daughter Liana last February, and returned to action in January. But the German lost six of her first seven matches back, with the sole victory coming over Ajla Tomljanovic at the United Cup from match point down.

Must See

A first-round tie with Martic revived a long-dormant rivalry. Martic had won two of their three previous encounters, but those had been in 2008 and 2009. They had not played in 12 years, since Kerber's 6-3, 7-5 victory in the fourth round of Roland Garros 2012.

Kerber will next face one of 2024's most in-form players in Ostapenko, who has already collected two titles this year in Adelaide and Linz. She holds a 2-1 record against the Latvian, including a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory in their only previous hardcourt meeting in the third round of Cincinnati 2021.

Keys to the match: Strong serving was the foundation of Kerber's win. The three-time major champion landed 73% of her first serves, and won 69% of those points. She dropped serve twice -- but both times occurred early in the set, just after Kerber had captured the Martic serve.

In each set, Kerber regained the break midway through, and found her best serving games to hold on to the lead. Along the way, she delighted fans with flashes of her vintage form: a pair of forehand passes early in the match, and a backhand screamer down in the line en route to breaking for 3-2 in the second set.

Martic delivered her share of finesse winners, fending off a break point deep in the second set with an exquisitely sliced backhand winner. But the Croat was unable to string enough of those points together, and was let down by a 54% first serve percentage.