Indian Wells reaches 4th round

The final sixteen in the women's draw have been decided in Indian Wells and the first half of the men's third round matches have been completed.

Angie Kerber almost joined Andy Murray as a top seed on the scrap heap, but recovered from a break down in the third set to escape against France's Pauline Parmentier.

Her expected semi final opponent, fourth seed Simona Halep, was not so fortunate.  In only her second match since returning from a knee injury suffered in St Petersburg in February, Halep wasted 19 of 22 break points against Kristina Mladenovic and lost in straight sets.

Also leaving the tournament was sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who has had a terrible 2017 apart from making the final in Sydney in January.  Her loss to China's Shuai Peng was her 6th from 13 starts this year.

Impressive wins were recorded by Madison Keys, playing her first tournament this year and Caroline Wozniacki, and their fourth round encounter should be a highlight.  Venus Williams and Lauren Davis ensured that, with Keys, three Americans will feature in the last sixteen.  Their wins over Safarova and Goerges were comprehensive.

After his impressive win over Andy Murray, Vasek Pospisil failed to back it up and fell to fellow qualifier Dusan Lajovic over three sets.  Roberto Bautista Agut had to withdraw before his match with Pablo Carreno Busta and Yoshihito Nishioka continued to make use of his lucky lose  entry by knocking out another seed.  

Tomas Berdych was the victim on this occasion and he will be kicking himself, letting a 6-1 5-2 lead slip.  Nishioka saved a match point in the tenth game of set two before proceeding to a 1-6 7-6 6-4 success.

Next for the Japanese player is third seed Stan Wawrinka, who overcame Philipp Kohlschreiber. 

Monfils, Thiem and Goffin also booked fourth round spots.