Serena Williams emerged triumphant on an emotional return to Indian Wells on Friday , beating Monica Niculescu in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open . The world No 1 has not played at the tournament in the Californian desert , one of the biggest on the WTA Tour , since winning the title as a 19-year-old in 2001 . She was afforded a standing ovation as she walked out onto centre court , and the occasion seemed to affect her in the early stages as she found herself trailing 2-0 . Serena Williams celebrates after beating Monica Niculescu at the ATP & WTA BNP Paribas Open . Williams went through a range of emotions on her return to Indian Wells following a 14-year boycott . Tennis fans gave Williams a standing ovation as she made her entrance to the court . The 33-year-old American waves to the crowd as she is given a standing ovation . But the 33-year-old American soon got into her rhythm and ground out a gutsy 7-5 , 7-5 triumph in two hours four minutes . Williams had thought about returning last year only to change her mind . She was jeered during her final victory over Kim Clijsters 14 years ago by a crowd unhappy that Venus Williams had pulled out of a scheduled semi-final against her sister the previous day at the last minute . Critics believed matches between the siblings were fixed and Venus and the women 's father and coach Richard claimed they were subjected to racist taunts in the stands . Williams played in front of a packed house . It was her first match at the arena since 2001 . Williams had thought about returning last year only to change her mind . Elsewhere in the women 's second round on Friday , Romania 's Simona Halep battled from a set down to defeat Russia 's Daria Gavrilova - and dedicated the victory to her cousin , following his recent death . 'It 's really tough to speak about this situation , ' she said after her 2-6 , 6-1 , 6-2 win . 'It 's a painful situation for everyone , for me and for my family . ' I just wanted to play this tournament because he loved tennis . He played tennis for many years . So I decided to stay here , because it was a little bit easier to pass this situation . ' I just want to dedicate this match to him , because he loved tennis and he was very talented . '
Monica Niculescu overcame Serena Williams to win in straight sets . The World No 1 has not played at Indian Wells since 2001 . She was jeered by fans and allegedly subjected to racist abuse that year . But American was given standing ovation as she made emotional return .