A great Saturday of tennis at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was marred by the surprise withdrawal of one of the women?s favourites. Second seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters announced that she suffered a bone bruise and tendonitis to her left wrist during last night?s first round win over Angelika Roesch. ?We were 6-1, 1-1,? explained Clijsters, ?and I just started feeling it. It felt like it was getting worse when I was hitting backhands.?

Clijsters has no idea what caused the injury. Nor does she know how long she will be on the shelf. ?It could take up to six weeks to heal,? she told reporters this afternoon. ?They don?t know. It could take two to three weeks.?

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Sesil Karatancheva (WC) def. Magui Serna (17), 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
Second round
Court 5
Previous head-to-head: First meeting

If the dean of American tennis journalism, the Boston Globe?s Bud Collins, ventures out to court 5 to watch a match in the hot sun, you know something newsworthy is happening. We assume that Bud was out in the ?boonies? not to check out the chunky but skilled Spanish lefty Magui Serna, but rather the 14-year-old Bulgarian whiz kid Sesil Karatanchva (pictured at right), who had upset Alexandra Stevenson on Wednesday night. The flamboyant and talkative Florida-based teen has been one of the compelling figures of the early days of the tournament. And a bizarre post-match verbal outburst aimed at Maria Sharapova made the youngster even more compelling.

On Wednesday the brash young Bulgarian had told us that she didn?t know who Serna was, and ?I don?t really care.? Someone -- perhaps her coach Nick Bollettieri -- must have told Karatencheva a little something about Serna since then, because Karatancheva came out with a game plan that she followed until the end.

The plan was to play balls with slow pace to Serna?s backhand, Magui?s less explosive side, daring Serna to take a risk. The versatile Serna has some options on the backhand, such as the drop shot, chip and charge, or deep topspin. She used these options brilliantly at times, but not so well other times.

It took a while, but Karatancheva?s plan proved to be a winning one. Still, one got the impression that an in-form Serna would have put this match away, and Serna seemed to agree. ?She wasn?t hitting hard at all,? commented Serna. ?She was hitting the ball to my backhand. I was kind of like waiting for her to change to my forehand, then make her run, play my forehand crosscourt to her backhand.? But the young Bulgarian refused to cooperate.

Despite her frustrations with Sesil?s slow-balling tactics, Magui was two points from victory, serving at 5-4, 30-0 lead in the third set. But Serna gave away the next three points by dumping a drop shot into the net, and netting two slice backhands. ?I?m not with my best confidence at the moment,? said Serna by way of explanation for her inability to put the match away.

Then Karatancheva held serve, forcing Serna to serve to stay in the match. Again, it was a poor service game from the Spaniard. Karatencheva kept bringing balls back in play, and from 15-15 Serna ended long points with forehand errors, giving the young Bulgarian match point. Sesil converted, forcing another Serna forehand error with an attacking forehand. Make the final: 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 for the 14-year-old Bulgarian, who celebrated by flamboyantly bowing low and waved to the fans packing court 5.

By upsetting the world?s 25th-ranked player, and reaching the third round of her first WTA tournament, Sesil Karatancheva was justifiably elated. ?I didn?t give up,? gushed the 14-year-old. ?I put everything, and just got the most unbelievable result I have for now. The 25th in the world, I mean, I?m still kind of shocked.? Her victim, however, is not yet sold on the kid?s potential as a future star. ?I agree, she has a good backhand,? said Serna, ?but that?s it. I mean, she plays well, obviously. From my opinion, it?s nothing special.?

The prospect of Karatancheva playing 16-year-old whiz kid Maria Sharapova in the third round on Monday is intriguing enough. But the match gained an extra edge after Karatancheva?s post-match interview. The cocky young Bulgarian, it seems, has a major beef with Sharapova.

Sesil claimed that a couple of weeks ago she was scheduled to play Sharapova in a practice match at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. ?Two hours before the match,? claimed Karatancheva, ?my agent comes and he goes, ?She called it off.? I?m like, ?Why did she call the match off?? ?Because you said you were going to kick her ass off.?? Karatancheva added, ?If she?s too scared to come on the court, her problem.? The young Bulgarian then passed her judgment on Sharapova?s personality -- she repeated the phrase ?not really charming? four times -- before offering a prediction for Monday?s grudge match. ?Yes, I do think I can kick her ass off.?

Maria Sharapova met with the press shortly after her arduous 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Flavia Pennetta. By then, word of Karatancheva?s outburst had circulated. Needless to say, Sharapova?s was the best attended press conference of the week so far, as eager reporters filed into the interview room to hear Maria?s response.

Sharapova handled the whole kafuffle well, refusing to be drawn into a war of words with Karatancheva, despite the best efforts of the assembled reporters to elicit some outrage. Maria seemed genuinely surprised by the whole kicking-ass-off business. In fact, she says she never had a match scheduled with Karatancheva on that fateful day in Florida. ?I thought I would play a few of the Bollettieri girls to get a few matches in, but I didn?t schedule a time with her or anything.?

Sharapova said she certainly wasn?t scared of playing Karatancheva. ?I don?t know her? I never even thought about her in my life.? She said she wasn?t offended by the threats of having her ass kicked off, and, suggested that the child will learn better public behaviour with time. ?There?s a lot of WTA Tour staff, and there are a lot of programs and media training,? said Sharapova with the advanced wisdom of a 16-year-old woman of the world. ?I went through this. I mean, you have to learn about everythi ng. I wouldn?t worry about it.?

Ah, these kids today?

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Taylor Dent def. Gustavo Kuerten (15), 7-5, 6-4
Second round
Stadium 1
Previous head-to-head: Kuerten leads 2-0

The Pacific Life Open lost its 2003 runner-up when Brazilian star Gustavo ?Guga? Kuerten was victimized by the aggressive tactics of American Taylor Dent.

This was always going to be a tricky matchup for ?Guga?, who customarily struggles against serve-volleyers. Kuerten did win their two previous meetings, but this statistic is a bit misleading because they had not played since 2001, before Dent became a fixture on the tour. Kuerten was aware of the discomfort Dent?s style would cause. ?I really like to play the game, you know, different shots here and there, feeling the match, going in the long way, much more in the long way, much more than short points li ke today. For me it?s always extra challenge, extra difficulty."

The first set stayed on serve until Kuerten?s 5-6 service game. Guga did not land a first serve in play in this game, and was broken at love, finishing the game with a double fault and a backhand error.

The second set began in a promising way for Guga, with the Brazilian breaking Dent?s serve for the first time. But the American immediately broke back. Again in the third game Dent dropped his serve only to immediately regain it. Kuerten was having difficulty with his first serve, and Dent was making him pay by coming in behind his second serves to pressure the Brazilian. The pressure continued to pay off in Kuerten?s next two service games, but Dent failed to cash in break points in each game.

Finally, with Kuerten serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Dent?s pressure paid off decisively, and Guga fell behind 0-40, setting up three match points for the Californian. Guga fought off the first two with forehand winner and an ace. But on the third chance Dent got a second serve to work with and charged the net behind his return. Anticipating a backhand pass down the line, Dent knocked off a sharply angled volley winner to seal the match.

For Taylor Dent, a strong performance here against the former world number one comes at a perfect time. Taylor has been struggling for wins ever since his excellent run last fall when he won back-to-back tournaments on the indoor circuit. Dent himself was puzzled by his recent loss of form. ?These things happen. It?s sports. There?s no explanation sometimes for some things.? It?s perhaps a comment on how Kuerten?s star has fallen since 2001, when he finished the year on top of the world, that Dent didn?t regard the win as overly significant. ?It?s nice, I?m not going to lie, he beat me here three years ago,? said the winner. ?But it?s more of a win to build confidence on, in terms of trying to turn the corner a little bit with my play. It?s a nice win, but there?s a bigger picture.?

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Wandering in the desert

Strycova strikes

Former junior number one Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, a qualifier, had what might be considered one of the day?s more surprising results on the women?s side, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over 23rd seed Eleni Daniilidou. Daniilidou is not renowned for her endurance, and the in-form young Czech clearly had more energy as the match wore on. Not too surprising, since 17-year-old Strycova told us that her major priority in her transition to the pros has been to work on her strength and conditi oning. Strycova?s third round opponent will be a countrywoman, "lucky loser" Iveta Benesova, who authored an impressive 7-5, 6-4 win over 13th seed Magdalena Maleeva.

Manic men?s action

The outer courts were the scene of some dandy men?s tilts. We particularly enjoyed watching a skilled and speedy little blond lefty from Spain, Fernando Verdasco, try to ward off the serve-volley tactics of Frenchman Nicolas Escudé. Escudé?s agression finally paid off in a 7-6(2), 5-7, 7-6(5) struggle. But we suspect we will see a lot more of Verdasco, just 20 years old, in the future.

Another Frenchman, the wily magician Fabrice Santoro, was involved in a side-court thriller with Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti. This match featured great shotmaking and intensity from both, but was still played with a remarkable sporting spirit. Sanguinetti registered the key break late in the third set thanks to a desperation stretch lob that the onrushing Santoro leaped for, but could not quite reach. The final score was 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in favour of Sanguinetti, and the two warriors replaced the traditional post-match handshake with a hug.

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Quotable quotes

Gustavo Kuerten has announced that he will boycott Davis Cup unless there is a change of leadership in what he feels is a mismanaged Brazilian tennis federation. He is supported in the boycott by the other top Brazilian players, Flavio Saretta and Andre Sa. ?For us it?s bad because at the end, if nobody?s playing, it?s not nice. But it gets to a point that probably losing something now and getting better things in the future maybe would help us.?

Andre Agassi was asked about Roger Federer?s rise to number one, and particularly about the frequent comparison with Pete Sampras. ?You know, I don?t see Roger similar to Pete. I mean, I?m dealing with subtleties here. I find Pete?s serve to be much bigger, but Roger to be a better returner. I think Roger?s a better groundstroker, but Pete?s a better volleyer. You know, when you sort of take Xs and Os, you give some to this guy, some to that guy, and at the end of the day it?s champions against champions. Who knows how it?s going to come out??