Indian Wells: Diane Parry treats herself to a prestigious victory against Venus Williams

Committed since the beginning of the week at Indian Wells, Diane Parry faced American legend Venus Williams in the first round. A match made difficult by weather conditions.

It had been a while since we last heard from Diane Parry. Looking for momentum at the start of the season, the Nice native is beginning to regain some confidence. Earlier in the month, she had shone at Ostrava by reaching the semi-finals of this WTA 250. A result that allowed her to gain a few places in the rankings.

Now ranked 111th in the world, Diane Parry must still go through qualifying rounds to access the main draws of major tournaments.

After a failure in Merida in the first round of qualifying, it was at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 that the French player wanted to bounce back. Facing American Elizabeth Mandlik (170th in the world, 24 years old) in her first match, the French player did not falter and won quickly in two sets (6-2, 6-3).

In the next round, New Zealander Lulu Sun (100th in the world, 24 years old) also came up against the Nice native. A match that ended with the same score as the previous encounter. But the most important thing was to obtain the precious ticket to the main draw of a major tournament.

Legend Venus Williams to start

To begin her Indian Wells campaign, Diane Parry faced a wild card. And not just any wild card, but none other than legend Venus Williams (49 titles including seven Grand Slams). Still on the circuit at 45 years old, the American now plays a reduced number of tournaments, for pleasure and mainly on American soil.

Although the two players have a 22-year age gap, this was not necessarily felt throughout the match. While the first set was won fairly easily by the player from Maralp (6-3), the rest of the match was much more closely contested.

Less focused in very windy conditions, Diane Parry was no longer making the effort to move the American around. Perhaps intimidated by playing a legend of the sport, encouraged by a large crowd on a Thursday afternoon, the French player was overwhelmed by Venus Williams’ power-based game.

While she had the match in hand with a break lead, Diane Parry failed to manage her advantage. Pushed to a tiebreak by an opponent capable of playing very good tennis in sequences, it was ultimately Venus Williams who managed to take the second set (7-6⁽⁴⁾).

Disturbed by the difficult conditions, Diane Parry struggled to establish her game at the start of the final set. Venus Williams’ experience did the rest and instilled doubt in the French player, who repeatedly turned to her team in search of solutions.

It was only after two hours of play that the wind finally turned in Diane Parry’s favor. Against her, mobility began to fail and gave the French player the opportunity to finish the match quickly.

Diane Parry won by force (6-3, 6-7, 6-1) in 2h20 of play. In the next round, she will face another American, Madison Keys. A match where she will need to find much more consistency to hope to go further.