INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Serena Williams is settling right on into the BNP Paribas Open, producing a quick, business-like effort in advancing to the fourth round Sunday while enjoying her return after a 14-year absence.
She defeated up-and-comer Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-0 in 53 minutes, a routine affair compared to the emotional roller coaster she rode Friday night after walking onto stadium court for the first time since being driven away by a hail of boos as a teenager in 2001.
"It definitely felt back to normal out there," Williams said. "Just trying to feel the rhythm and trying to focus on the ball more than anything else."
Playing in the 91-degree heat of an unusually warm desert afternoon, Williams was bathed in applause by the half-full stadium court crowd. They booed supportively when the chair umpire ruled an apparent ace ticked the net on her second match point.
Williams waved her left arm dismissively toward the chair. She screamed in frustration when her backhand error wasted a second match point and forced deuce. The world's top-ranked women's player closed it out on her third match point when Diyas' backhand sailed long.
"I was able to relax because I was able to do more of the right things and not make as many mistakes as I did in my last round," she said.
She extended her current winning streak to 13 matches in her first tournament since winning her 19th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
Diyas was making her debut at Indian Wells and fell to 2-9 against top-10 players in her young career. She improved her ranking by 129 spots last year and is currently No. 32. She committed 27 unforced errors to 20 for Williams, who converted 6 of 12 break points.
Next up for Williams is Sloane Stephens, who beat two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4.
"I was running down a lot of balls, making her play a lot of shots," Stephens said. "I was trying to be aggressive."
Also on the women's side, Heather Watson upset seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4, and Elina Svitolina knocked out 10th-seeded Lucie Safarova 7-6 (5), 7-5. No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova was beaten by 27th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Third-seeded Simona Halep needed three sets to beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Lepchenko had 56 unforced errors to 37 for Halep.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.