Lucic , Dechy Open Indian Wells with Wins

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA - It had been four years since her last main draw match on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but the huge serve and groundstrokes were definitely still there; on Wednesday Mirjana Lucic made a winning start to her 2007 Pacific Life Open campaign, beating Lindsey Nelson, 64 76(5), to advance to the second round of the Tier I event.

Lucic, once one of the most talked about up-and-coming players of the late 1990s whose most memorable accomplishments were reaching the 1999 Wimbledon semifinals and capturing the 1998 Australian Open doubles trophy with Martina Hingis, has had a variety of off-court struggles in recent years that has kept her from playing on a regular basis on the Tour. But she always had her eye on a return to the circuit.

"There were no injuries; I've been healthy for the last few years, and I've been practicing 100%," said the Croat, who turns 25 on Friday. "I've been waiting for my chance to get away from the problems and get back to playing consistently."

Wednesday's victory certainly wasn't smooth sailing for Lucic - she squandered a pair of match points at 5-4 in the second set and subsequently dropped her serve to fall behind, 6-5 - but she regrouped and was able to grab her first main draw match win at the Tour level since a first round win at Roland Garros in 2002.

"I was really nervous because it was my first match here after four years of not being here," Lucic continued. "I started well. It got away from me in the second set, though. Nerves kicked in from playing on center court. But, I stayed really positive. She played a good point there and I knew my chance would come again.

"I'm very happy with the win. I feel like I won the tournament. It's been a long time. But this time I'm back and I'm here to stay."

And despite the clear struggles of getting back to the upper echelon of the game, Lucic also keeps a positive attitude on everything about her future.

"The results at the Slams, all the matches I won; I remember them all and I keep them in my heart, but I don't dwell too much on the past. I love those memories, but really I just look forward to every tournament in the future."

Next up for the powerful Croat is one of this generation's brightest young stars, No.8 seed Anna Chakvetadze.

"She's been playing great, but I'm just focusing one by one right now. I try not to worry too much. I'm just very excited. I'm going to go out there and relax. I feel like I'm improving all the time so I'll just go out and play my game."

Three of the world's Top 50 players were in action on Wednesday - but only two were able to advance. No.47 Nicole Pratt rallied back from a 4-0 deficit in the first set, and eventually had to rally again for a 76(4) 26 63 win over Virginia Ruano Pascual; and No.49 Nathalie Dechy claimed a tie-break then cruised to a 76(2) 61 victory over Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-Jan. But No.43 Emilie Loit, who had just captured her third and biggest career title at Acapulco, was sent packing, 75 63, by Belarussian qualifier Victoria Azarenka.

Other than Nelson's loss to Lucic, the Americans had a good day, with Meilen Tu, Jill Craybas and Shenay Perry all notching straight set victories. Other winners included Dutch teenager and three-time Tour titlist Michaella Krajicek.

Dementieva withdraws with continued rib injury

The tournament was hit with a significant withdrawal earlier in the day, as No.5 seed and returning finalist Elena Dementieva was sidelined by a right rib stress fracture, which she suffered in her opening round at Antwerp a few weeks ago.

"I felt it while I was practicing in Moscow," said the Russian, whose run to the final here a year ago was highlighted by a nail-biting semifinal victory against Justine Henin. "It is difficult to breathe and it is even hard to sleep."

Austria's Sybille Bammer, who recently won her first career title in Pattaya City, took Dementieva's place in the draw as the No.33 seed. Anastassia Rodionova took Bammer's spot as a lucky loser. (WTA)