10-03-2025
BNP Paribas Open: La Quinta's Makenna Jones falls in second doubles match
Well, the run for La Quinta's Makenna Jones came to an end Sunday.
The 27-year-old doubles player, whose parents run the tennis program at Rancho La Quinta Country Club, lost her second match with McCartney Kessler at the BNP Paribas Open, 6-2, 6-3, against Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Zhang inside a packed Stadium 5 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Jones, who lived with her parents in La Quinta last year while rehabbing from a torn ACL and meniscus in her right knee, received a wild card entry into the women's doubles draw. In a pitch to get the wild card, she said that the tournament might sell a few more tickets if she were playing.
Turns out she may have been right.
While a crowd of about 400 watched Jones and Kessler beat American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Marie Bouzkova of Czechia inside Stadium 6 on Friday, the size of the crowd more than doubled Sunday inside Stadium 5.
Fans cheered Jones and Kessler on, some waving signs, but the magic of Friday's match wasn't there, as the pair of Americans faced one of the top doubles teams in the draw.
Su-wei and Shuai are seeded fifth and will move on to play Jelena Ostapenko and Ellen Perez, the fourth seed.
Jones had no illusions that making a run to the finals at Indian Wells would be easy. She said Friday, after her win, that it's a tough draw because it's one of the biggest tournaments of the year.
Still, she also said that she wanted to show that she can play at this level and do something with the wild card that she received.
It's fair to say that she did.
"Coming back from my injury," Jones said, "I didn't know if they'd care to give me a wild card. I wasn't expecting anything. I just felt super grateful that they did that and it was a really cool moment to do that with everyone supporting."
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta's Makenna Jones loses in second Indian Wells doubles match
