The number one in the world Iga Swiatek continued her Indian Wells title defense with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Emma Raducanu allowing her to face unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals.
Swiatek was under pressure early in the first set, but some good ball striking helped her hold a 3-2 lead after two tight service games. He raised his level and broke Raducanu’s serve in the next game.
After closing out the first set with a long shot by Raducanu from the baseline, Swiatek crashed early in the second to increase the pressure on the Britthat unforced errors begin to accumulate.
Swiatek, bidding to become the second player to successfully defend the Indian Wells title after Martina Navratilova in 1990-91, he took a 5-1 lead playing impeccable tennis and wearing down his opponent.
The US Open champion ended the victory when Raducanu crashed into the net while serving, bringing a cheap end to his hot run in the southern California desert.
Earlier, Coco Gauff came back from a break down in the final set to beat Swedish Rebecca Peterson 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
After taking the first set, the sixth-seeded American began to struggle with her forehand in the second and an opportunistic Peterson applied pressure by going to the net.
But after suffering an early break in the decider, Gauff stepped up his defence, fending off three break points at 4-4 and breaking Peterson for the fourth time on match point to book his place in the quarterfinals.
Gauff, who turned 19 on Monday, was serenaded by the audience, who sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
Next, Gauff will face the second seed, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenkawho survived a second-set scare to beat 16th-seeded Barbora Krejcikova 6-3 2-6 6-4.
Sabalenka hit 11 aces in the match to clinch the win and exact revenge on the Czech, who beat her last month at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
For her part, Maria Sakkari, seventh seed, beat Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 5-7 and 6-3 in a match of two hours and 45 minutes.
With this victory, the Greek kept alive his hopes of capturing his first Indian Wells crown, after reaching the final last year.
Sakkari will face the Czech Petra KvitovaSeeded 15th, for a place in the semi-finals, after the two-time Wimbledon champion saved four match points en route to 6-2 3-6 7-6(11) win over third seed American Jessica Pegula.
Cirstea earned her first top-five win since 2017 in Beijing, when the 32-year-old topped fifth seed Caroline Garcia 6-4 4-6 7-5.
The Wimbledon ChampionElena Rybakina defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 6-0 and will face Karolina Muchova, who defeated Marketa Vondrousova 6-4, 6-7(2) and 6-4.
Source: La Verdad
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