Halep, Venus enter Indian Wells quarters
INDIANWELLS: World No 1 Simona Halep breezed through her WTA Indian Wells fourth round match with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over China’s Wang Qiang. Halep, who is one of two former champions left in the draw, is now 17-1 on the season having already won a title in both singles and doubles at Shenzhen. Halep advances to the quarter-finals where she will face unseeded Petra Martic of Croatia who beat Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
Halep called for a timeout in the first set so her coach Darren Cahill could come down to the court to discuss strategy. “It was really important, because he just told me what I have to do. I knew that I had to change something, but I didn’t realise what it was exactly,” she said.
VENUS ADVANCES
Venus Williams survived a difficult fourth round test to beat Anastasija Sevastova 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 just one day after beating sister Serena for the first time since 2014 in Montreal.
Williams, who is the oldest female player in the draw at 37, rallied back in the second set to book her spot in the quarter-finals. She next faces world No 27 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
WOZNIACKI OUSTED
Russian Daria Kasatkina, who has beaten all four reigning Grand Slam champions in the past year, upset world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-5 .
Kasatkina recorded her second straight win over Wozniacki, having also beaten the reigning Australian Open champ at the St. Petersburg tournament last month. INDIANWELLS: Yuki Bhambri’s stupendous run at the Indian Wells Masters came to an end following his defeat to American world No 21 Sam Querrey in the third round, here. The Indian qualifier, ranked 110, pushed his opponent before bowing out with a 7-6(4), 4-6, 4-6 loss, which came after an intense battle lasting two hours, 20 minutes.
The 25-year-old Indian saved 11 of the 15 breakpoints in the match. The 45 points he earned by making the third round and 16 from the qualifying event, are likely to push Bhambri back into top-100 when the new rankings are issued on Monday.
DEL POTRO THROUGH
Juan Martin Del Potro continued his dominance over David Ferrer to book a spot in the Indian Wells fourth round as second seed Marin Cilic suffered a shock loss. World No 8 Del Potro extended his win streak over the Spaniard to five straight matches, winning 6-4, 7-6 (7/3). Del Potro will next face Leonardo Mayer, who beat Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-1. Elsewhere, world number three Cilic became another top seed casualty, losing in straight sets to Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4.