Wang shows grit in desert
Chinese No 1 Wang Qiang was forced to dig deep to defeat Elise Mertens of Belgium 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Sunday.
World No 18 Wang survived a marathon three-hour battle against 16th-ranked Mertens and will now face 18-year-old Canadian wild card Bianca Andreescu in the last 16.
The victory improved Wang’s head-to-head record against Mertens to 3-0.
Wang, who enjoyed a fruitful 2018 by winning two WTA titles and pocketing gold at the Asian Games, also reached the fourth round in the California desert last year, losing to Simona Halep.
World No 2 Halep survived a tough challenge from Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova to win their third-round match 7-6 (3), 7-5 on Sunday.
The Romanian finally put away the 114th-ranked Kozlova with eight consecutive points in the second set — a backhand winner proving decisive, just as it had in the first set.
Halep said her opponent was tough to put away.
“It was difficult for me to close out those sets,” she said. “When I was leading the match, she played without fear.”
The victory advanced the French Open champion, who won the Indian Wells title in 2015, to the fourth round for the fifth time in six years.
The meeting was the first between the pair and featured big momentum swings.
Meanwhile, the tournament lost 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, who retired against Garbine Muguruza with what organizers described as a viral illness.
Former Wimbledon and French Open champion Muguruza was leading 6-3, 1-0 when Williams retired.
“I think I played well,” Muguruza said. “I’m going to take the positive side of that.”
In the men’s tournament, world No 2 Rafael Nadal raced into the third round as Roger Federer made a less speedy but still successful start to his quest for a sixth title on Sunday.
Nadal, a three-time Indian Wells winner, needed just 72 minutes to get past Jared Donaldson 6-1, 6-1.
Federer, who is seeking to break out of a tie with top seed Novak Djokovic for most Indian Wells titles, looked set for a similarly easy time of it, but had to fend off a second-set challenge from German Peter Gojowczyk in a 6-1, 7-5 win.
Fourth-seeded Federer said he was relieved not to go to a secondset tiebreaker after falling behind 3-1 to world No 85 Gojowczyk.
The Swiss regained the break and, after saving four break points to make it 4-4, cruised home.
“Because he was serving better he started to swing more freely and then it was tough,” Federer said. “I’m really happy I found a way.”