Heather Watson and Anne Keothavong's bid to book a place in next week's Indian Wells tournament failed as they both lost in the opening round of qualiyfing.

Keothavong was the first to fall when she lost 6-4 6-1 to wildcard Monica Puig in the first round of qualifying.

Keothavong, seeded 22 at the qualifying tournament, slapped down nine double faults, the equivalent of one a game, as she was dismissed in just 94 minutes by the Puerto Rican 17-year-old.

And Watson, currently ranked 132 in the world, quickly followed her compatriot out of the tournament after suffering a 6-2 7-6(4) defeat at the hands of Belgium's Kristen Flipkens, 28 places higher at 104 in the rankings.

Third seed Alize Cornet was more successful as she booked her place in the next round with a 6-3 6-1 win over China's Xinyun Han to leave herself potentially just two wins away from the main draw.

Romanian 12th seed Sorana Cirstea endured a tougher battle before she was allowed to book her place in the second round.

The former French Open quarter-finalist was forced to recover from a set before going on to beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2.

There were also wins for seventh seed Zhang Shuai, ninth seed Laura Pous-Tio and 14th seed Petra Martic but 22nd seeded Pauline Parmentier crashed out 6-0 6-4 at the hands of Russia's Anastasis Pivovarova.

Eurosport