Kasatkina on a roll - downs Kerber

The world is a happy place for Daria Kasatkina (20) as she continues to beat the very best tennis players in the world.

On Day Nine of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the 20 year old Russian didn’t just beat Angie Kerber (10) in a quarter final - she pulverised the former world number one and dual Grand Slam title holder.

The first set showcased all the shots that Kasatkina now has at her disposal, and the sheer confidence with which she is able to pick and choose when to play them.

The repeated forehand winners just had too much power behind them for Kerber to handle, and the timing of drop shots and angled backhands drew a number of errors from the German who only managed to win six points on her own serve for the set.

6-0 and Kasatkina was half way to the final four in just 22 minutes of wonderful tennis.

Set two was more of the same, although Kerber did improve, at least winning half the points on her serve.

Not nearly enough of a performance lift to bother Kasatkina who broke serve twice from two chances and won the quarter final 6-0 6-2.

Of her last 14 matches in 2018, Kasatkina has won 11, five of those against Grand Slam title winners, including the last three here in Indian Wells.

Sitting now at a live ranking of 14, a new career high, Daria will move to 11 should she beat Venus Williams (8) in their semi final.

Venus had too much class for Carla Suárez Navarro in the other quarter final decided on Day Nine, enjoying a 6-3 6-2 victory.

Meanwhile the first of the men’s quarter finals were held, with Roger Federer (1) tossing aside Hyeon Chung (23) 7-5 6-1 in one of them.

Federer dropped serve just once for the match (first set), while managing to crack open the Korean delivery twice in each set.

Chung lost the second set easily, but the scoreline doesn’t show that he had the same amount of break points - five - as Federer for the set. He just couldn’t convert.

Federer will play Borna Coric in the semi finals after the unseeded Croatian upset Kevin Anderson (7) in almost two and a half hours 2-6 6-4 7-6(3).

Yet another seed that Roger won’t have to face after he again successfully subcontracted a hit job, this time on Anderson.

Day Ten offers up a big serving quarter final between Sam Querrey (18) and Milos Raonic (32), and another interesting clash between Juan Martin del Potro (6) and the in form Philipp Kohlschreiber (31).

The women’s semi finals, to be played at night, will be the highlights though.

Naomi Osaka is enjoying what may well develop into a break out year.

At a mere 20 years old, she will face stiff opposition from top seed Simona Halep.

Another 20 year old Daria Kasatkina, seeded 20, will push Venus Williams (8) to the limit in the first of the semis.

This means we have the youngest pair of Indian Wells semi finalists since 2009 when the then 19 year old Vika Azarenka and 17 year old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova made the final four.

Halep and Osaka into Indian Wells semis

As the serious business of the BNP Paribas Open has come, and upsets have rendered several star names obsolete until Miami next week, Day Eight provided a sense of predictability for the most part.

The men’s fourth round matches were played, and each win was not a surprise, although achieving the success was not simple in all cases.

Kevin Anderson (7) was put through the ropes by Pablo Carreno Busta before eventually prevailing 4-6 6-3 7-6(6)

He will play Borna Coric in the quarter finals 

Borna Coric defeated Taylor Fritz 6-2 6-7(6) 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro (6) was in a deal of trouble against fellow Argentine Leonardo Mayer, down a set and a break, before firing back to win a quarter final spot.

Mayer won 83% of points behind his serve in the opening set and didn’t face a break point, whereas he created three chances to crack the Delpo delivery. He converted one of those to lead by a set.

The momentum carried Mayer to 3-1 in the second set, but del Potro was angry at this point and lifted his game to a level near where it should be.

A service hold, then a break, and it was 3-3. From there serve was held by both until the critical tie break in which del Potro took control to win easily and level the match.

The sixth seed continued to win the key points as he ran through the final set, using both of his break points to advantage.

The 3-6 7-6(2) 6-3 win was hard fought, but del Potro is well placed now, facing Philipp Kohlschreiber (31) in the quarter finals.

Kohlschreiber won his battle with unseeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 7-6(1) in match which could easily have swung either way.

Other fourth round results:

Milos Raonic (32) was given a walkover by Marcos Baghdatis who withdrew through illness

Raonic will face Sam Querrey in the quarter finals

Sam Querrey (18) defeated Feliciano López (28) 6-3 6-4

This will be the first quarter final at Indian Wells for Querrey, and his first final eight appearance at a Masters 1000 event since Paris 2012.

Roger Federer (1) defeated Jérémy Chardy 7-5 6-4

The draw has opened up for Federer, as it often does, other players helping him by removing Grigor Dimitrov (3) and Dominic Thiem (5) from his section.

Roger will meet the quickly improving Hyeon Chung in the quarter finals

Hyeon Chung (23) defeated Pablo Cuevas (30) 6-1 6-3

This will be the debut quarter final at Masters 1000 level for Chung

The two women’s quarter finals played on Day Eight featured highly rated seeds against unseeded players, but neither match went to script for Simona Halep (1) or Karolina Pliskova (5).

Halep won the opening set against Petra Martic 6-4 thanks to a fine serving display in windy conditions.

The wind seemed to upset Halep more than Martic in set two and the top seed was down 2-5. This was rectified and a tie break was ultimately required. Martic at 5 points each revived her match hopes by winning the next two points and the set 7-6(5)

Down 1-3 in the final set, Halep powered her way back, winning the final five games and the match 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3.

She will play Naomi Osaka in the semi finals. Osaka thrashed Karolina Pliskova (5) 6-2 6-3

Their only previous meeting was in Toronto last year where Pliskova won in straight sets.

Here Osaka dominated, breaking the Czech serve six times from ten created chances. Using the pace of Pliskova’s ground strokes to perfection, Osaka forced the fifth seed into error with her consistently precise placement.

Although she has lost to Halep in all three of their clashes, the most recent in the 2018 Aus Open, Osaka can feel confident ahead of the semi final, especially considering Halep has struggled in two of her last three matches.

Wozniacki and Cilic exit Indian Wells

Day Seven of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, saw the defeat of the number two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draws.

Marin Cilic (2) was dismissed by Philipp Kohlschreiber (31) in the third round 6-4 6-4.  The 2018 Aus Open runner up has, since the thrilling Melbourne final, only played in Rio de Janeiro, where he lost to Gaël Monfils in the round of sixteen, and here where again his tournament was cut short early.

However, with world numbers 4, 5 and 6 - Dimitrov, Zverev and Thiem - also gone from Indian Wells, Cilic will remain comfortably at number three in the world.

Kohlschreiber will play Pierre-Hugues Herbert who defeated French compatriot Gaël Monfils 6-2 3-1 (retired) in the fourth round.

This is only the third time the German has reached the round of sixteen in a Masters 1000 event - the previous occasions were also at Indian Wells in 2009 and 2011.

The other results to complete the third round:

Feliciano López (28) defeated Jack Sock (8) 7-6(6) 4-6 6-4

He will play Sam Querrey in the fourth round 

Sam Querrey (18) defeated qualifier Yuki Bhambri 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4

Qualifier Marcos Baghdatis defeated lucky loser in qualifying Dudi Sela 7-6(5) 6-4

He will play Milos Raonic in the fourth round 

Milos Raonic (32) defeated Joao Sousa 7-5 4-6 6-2

Juan Martin del Potro (6) defeated David Ferrer (29) 6-4 7-6(3)

del Potro is the only single figure seed left in the bottom part of the draw

He will play Leonardo Mayer in the fourth round 

Leonardo Mayer defeated qualifier Taro Daniel 6-4 6-1

Daria Kasatkina (20) defeated Caroline Wozniacki (2) and the 20 year old Russian is enjoying a golden run, in contrast to the poor start in Australia which reaped two opening round losses before a second round loss in the 2018 Aus Open.

The week after the Aus Open, Daria made the semi finals in St Petersburg, along the way defeating Caroline Wozniacki, only days after the Danish star had captured her first Grand Slam title.

A disappointing first round loss in Doha was more than compensated in Dubai, where Kasatkina was runner up to Svitolina after wins over top ten players Konta and Muguruza.

Daria has, with her win over Sloane Stephens, and now Caroline Wozniacki, here in Indian Wells, has this year alone defeated the 2017 Wimbledon, 2017 US Open, and 2018 Aus Open (twice) champions.

Her ranking has risen from 24 to what will be at least 15 after this tournament, and 9 if she happens to win the whole thing.

The really impressive thing about Kasatkina in her latest victory was her ability to come back from seemingly forlorn positions.

When down 0-3 in set one, taking six of the next seven games would have been deemed implausible against the might of Wozniacki, but it was done through limiting errors, a strength of Wozniacki, done better than the second seed.

Kasatkina also presented Wozniacki with problems thanks to a topspin forehand and sliced backhand which were on song.

Wozniacki predictably came back in the second set, where serve was broken regularly. At 3-2 and serving, Kasatkina lost complete momentum and the second seed won the bulk of the points to win three straight games and lead 5-3.

A sudden switch occurred with the Russian tearing up the court again with winners aplenty and causing stress once more to Wozniacki.

The last four games were Daria’s as was the match 6-4 7-5, and a third Premier Mandatory tournament quarter final awaits her - the previous being her main draw debut at Indian Wells in 2016 and last year in Beijing.

Her quarter final opponent here will be Angie Kerber (10) who smashed Caroline Garcia (7) to the tune of 6-1 6-1.

Other fourth round results:

Simona Halep (1) defeated Qiang Wang 7-5 6-1

Halep has an imposing 17-1 win/loss record in 2018, the solitary loss the Aus Open final.

She will play Petra Martic in a quarter final 

Petra Martic defeated Marketa Vondrousova 6-3 7-6(4)

A breakthrough performance at a Premier Mandatory event for Petra

Naomi Osaka defeated Maria Sakkari 6-1 5-7 6-1

She will play Karolina Pliskova in a quarter final 

Karolina Pliskova (5) defeated wildcard Amanda Anisimova 6-4 7-6(2)

Venus Williams (8) defeated Anastasija Sevastova (21) 7-6(6) 6-4

She will play Carla Suárez Navarro in a quarter final 

Carla Suárez Navarro (27) defeated wildcard Danielle Collins 6-2 6-4

Venus wins sibling clash

Taylor Fritz was in primary school when Rafa Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in their epic 2009 Australian Open semi final.

On Day Six in Indian Wells, the 20 year old American defeated Verdasco, and in doing so added another highlight to his growing CV.

Fritz has made the round of sixteen at a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time. Previously, he had never ventured past the second round at this level and never beyond the opening round at Indian Wells..

With plenty of years of improvement ahead of him, fans can expect that CV to become an impressive document.

The match opened with Fernando serving well, winning 15 of 18 points on his first attempts, and 80% on all his serves.

Taylor kept in touch, but it was Fernando who converted the sole break point available in the set to lead 6-4.

Situation reversed for Verdasco in set two as his first serve % dropped to a miserable 42%. Fritz, on the other hand, dominated, with 70% of first serves landing legally, and him winning 89% of points resulting from those deliveries.

Facing no break points himself, the crowd favourite broke Fernando twice to level the match 4-6 6-2.

The deciding set was close (1 service break apiece) and required a tie break. The breaker was not close, with Taylor Fritz blitzing Fernando Verdasco to win 4-6 6-2 7-6(1)

The fourth round challenge for Taylor will be another youngster, 21 year old unseeded Borna Coric, who upset 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in their third round encounter 6-1 6-3

Other third round results:

Roger Federer (1) defeated Filip Krajinovic (25) 6-2 6-1

Jérémy Chardy defeated Adrian Mannarino (20) in a battle of the Frenchmen 7-5 4-6 6-1

Hyeon Chung (23) defeated Tomas Berdych (12) 6-4 6-4

Pablo Cuevas (30) defeated Dominic Thiem (5) 3-6 6-4 4-2 (retired)

Pablo Carreno Busta (11) defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-1 7-5

Kevin Anderson (7) defeated Nicolas Kicker 7-6(1) 7-6(3)

The bottom half of the women’s draw came out to play third round matches, and the eagerly awaited battle of the Williams sisters was top of the list.

Serena had won the last three times they had clashed, each of those in a Grand Slam setting, the most recent the 2017 Aus Open.

Venus last beat her sister in the 2014 Canadian Masters semi final.

Last year she made the quarter finals here. It was her second appearance at Indian Wells after boycotting the event for 14 years.

In the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, Venus conquered Serena.

The opening set belonged completely to the number 8 seed, and maybe this was not a big surprise - the point of the tournament where Serena would eventually struggle - given her lack of match play and the increased quality of opponent. 

Venus won 37 points to 26 and achieved the only break, to lead 6-3

The second set was tighter, and though Serena was back in the match, it came after Venus claimed an early break, forcing the champ to play catch up.

The victory for Venus was 6-3 6-4, but Serena can take heart from her two wins which proved that with further tournament action she will once again take a power of beating.

Venus progresses to the round of sixteen, where she will tackle Anastasija Sevastova (21) who defeated Julia Goerges (12) 6-3 6-3

Other matches to complete the third round:

Wildcard Danielle Collins defeated wildcard Sofya Zhuk 6-4 6-4

She will play Carla Suárez Navarro (27) in the fourth round 

Carla Suárez Navarro (27) defeated Elina Svitolina (4) 7-5 6-3

Caroline Garcia (7) defeated Dasha Gavrilova (26) 7-5 6-4

She will play Angie Kerber (10) in the fourth round 

Angie Kerber (10) defeated defending champion Elena Vesnina (24) 7-5 6-2

Daria Kasatkina (20) defeated Sloane Stephens (13) 6-4 6-3

She will play Caroline Wozniacki (2) in the fourth round 

Caroline Wozniacki (2) defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4 2-6 6-3 in about 140 minutes of fascinating tennis.

Federer and Halep avoid carnage

Day Five was a happy one for Simona Halep (1) and Karolina Pliskova (5) at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Not just because they had wins (hard fought though they each were) but due to all remaining seeds in their half of the draw dropping like flies.

Simona won’t need to play Kiki Mladenovic (14) in the round of sixteen thanks to Qiang Wang eliminating the French player smartly 6-1 6-2.

Nor will her quarter final opponent be Jelena Ostapenko (6), who was shown the exit gate by Petra Martic 6-3 6-3.

Karolina was no doubt dreading a fourth round encounter with her fellow Czech mate Petra Kvitova (9), but she can sleep a little easier, knowing that Petra has left courtesy of 16 year old American revelation wildcard Amanda Anisimova 6-2 6-4.

Maria Sakkari had shifted Ash Barty (16), the seeded round of sixteen opponent for Karolina, out of contention in the second round.

On Day Five she knocked out Coco Vandeweghe (17), who had assumed the likely fourth round meeting with Pliskova from Barty.

Of course the expected quarter final between Karolina and Garbine Muguruza (3) was thrown out the window with the Spaniard’s loss to qualifier Sachia Vickery.

The wash up sees the following round of sixteen line up in the top half of the draw:

Simona Halep (1) v Qiang Wang

Halep showed her renowned grit and determination in coming back f1-6 against hugely impressive wildcard Caroline Dolehide to win 1-6 7-6(3) 6-2

Marketa Vondrousova v Petra Martic 

Naomi Osaka v Maria Sakkari 

Wildcard Amanda Anisimova v Karolina Pliskova (5)

Pliskova took three sets and two and a half hours to finally shake off Shuai Zhang (32) 7-5 5-7 6-3

There were also some surprises in the men’s draw on Day Five.

The completion of second round matches, with seeds taking the court for the first time, came with highly valued casualties:

Qualifier Yuki Bhambri, ranked 110, defeated Lucas Pouille (9) 6-4 6-4

Qualifier Marcos Baghdatis, ranked 102, defeated Diego Schwartzman (14) 7-5 6-4

Lucky loser in qualifying Dudi Sela, ranked 97, defeated Kyle Edmund (21) 6-4 6-4

João Sousa, ranked 85, defeated Sascha Zverev (4) 7-5 5-7 6-4

Qualifier Taro Daniel, ranked 109, defeated Novak Djokovic (10) 7-6(3) 4-6 6-1

Gael Monfils defeated John Isner (15) 6-7(5) 7-6(3) 7-5

Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Gilles Muller (24) 6-3 7-

Roger Federer (1), Marin Cilic (2), Juan Martin del Potro (6), and Jack Sock (8) all won through to the third round.

Dimitrov out - sisters to battle

What is the problem with men’s tennis ?

Roger Federer is one of the best ever - we know that - but how can the supposed next generation still allow this man (who is quite entitled to his pension, rocking chair, and pipe and whisky on the front porch) to wander through tournaments at will, while the Zverevs, Cilics, Thiems, etc are happy to accept occasional losses to players ranked well below their respective talents ?

When will a player outside Roger and Rafa, and Andy and Novak, with occasional Stan intervention, step up consistently at big tournaments ?

The latest to flop is Grigor Dimitrov, who took his time to fully realise his talent, but did so with a stellar 2017 (albeit not firing as well at the majors).

The third seed fell in the second round this week at Indian Wells to Fernando Verdasco, the Spaniard veteran winning 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3.

This was Grigor’s first match since losing his opening match in Dubai to Malek Jaziri, who was ranked outside the top 100.

Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray, when fit and in the top four, 99% of the time didn’t / don’t drop these type of matches, and accordingly retained / retain their positions at the top. This is where Dimitrov and the like need to become more adept if they wish to push for the very top and remain there for any significant length of time.

Two other Spaniards were true to their seedings - Roberto Bautista Agut (13) disappointed fans by eliminating American Jared Donaldson 6-4 6-2, and Pablo Carreno Busta (11) ousted in form Argentine Horacio Zeballos in a thriller 3-6 6-3 7-6(3).

Except for Dimitrov, the other top ten players to take the court on Day Four made it safely through to the third round.

Dominic Thiem (5) defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 3-6 6-3 and Kevin Anderson (7) defeated Evgeny Donskoy 7-5 6-4.

Roger Federer (1) was leading in his match with Federico Delbonis 6-3 before rain caused play to be suspended until Day Five.

Nick Kyrgios was due to play Daniil Medvedev but he withdrew from the tournament with his troubling elbow injury, and his place was taken by lucky loser from qualifying Matteo Berrettini.

Matteo lost to Medvedev, but he was not a lucky loser this time and his time in the main draw was brief.

Of the WTA matches completed, both Williams sisters won, meaning they will play each other in the third round.

A victim of their success was Kiki Bertens (29), the second player dismissed by Serena this week.

Notable upsets were instigated by wildcards - American Danielle Collins, ranked 117, outgunned compatriot Madison Keys (15) 6-3 7-6(1) and Russian 18 year old Sofya Zhuk, ranked 136, defeated Magdalena Rybarikova (18) 6-3 2-6 7-5

Caroline Wozniacki (2), Elina Svitolina (4) and Caroline Garcia (7) all won through to the third round in straight sets.

The suspension through rain was perhaps a blessing for Angie Kerber (10) as she lost the opening set to Ekaterina Makarova 3-6.

That match will be concluded on Day Five, and the yet to be started Vika Azarenka/ Sloane Stephens clash has also been rescheduled to then.

Garbine crashes to US qualifier

Well Day Three of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells proved a shocker for many favoured players as half of the women’s seeds came out to play after first round byes.

The men’s first round matches were completed without too much fuss with the one result to raise more than a few eyebrows being Jan-Lennard Struff’s loss to wildcard Alex de Minaur.

The 19 year old Australian gave away 8 years, 85 ranking spots, half a foot in height and 40 pounds in weight to Struff, who only recently had helped Germany to a Davis Cup first round win over Australia in Brisbane.

de Minaur was scheduled to play Struff in that Brisbane tie, but the match wasn’t required since Germany had already wrapped up the contest 3-1.

And things looked anything but bright here in California for Alex as Struff strode through set one, winning 13 of 14 points on his first serve and facing no break points. de Minaur, though, played well enough, and the 6-3 scoreline only represented one break of serve off the one break point allowed on the Aussie serve.

Nothing could separate the two after that except tiebreakers, with only one service break apiece in the final set, none in the second.

de Minaur triumphed when it mattered, taking his first match at Masters 1000 level 3-6 7-6(3) 7-6(5).

Now for the tornado that swept through the seeds on display in the second round of the women’s draw.

Of the sixteen who took to court, nine have left the Indian Wells singles competition with immediate disappointment.

Yes, six of those were in the bottom sixteen seedings, but the other three were big upsets, one monumental.

The nine seeds departing:

Wildcard Caroline Dolehide, aged 19, American, ranked 165, defeated Dominika Cibulková (30) 5-7 6-3 6-4

Qiang Wang defeated Elise Mertens (22) 4-6 6-3 6-3

Marketa Vondrousova, still 18, defeated Johanna Konta (11) 7-6(5) 6-4

I said this was one to watch but I didn’t think Konta would lose

Aryna Sabalenka defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova (19) 6-4 6-3

Petra Martic defeated Barbora Strycova (25) 7-5 6-4

Naomi Osaka defeated Agnieszka Radwanska (31) 6-3 6-2

Maria Sakkari defeated Ash Barty (16) 6-4 6-2

This was another I said to take a look at but the Sakkari scoreline shocked me

Wildcard Amanda Anisimova, aged 16, American, ranked 149, defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (23) 6-4 6-1

The biggest upset, and yet another reason for US fans to erupt in delight, was the victory of qualifier Sachia Vickery, American, ranked 100, over number three seed Garbine Muguruza.

The Spaniard had complete control, leading 6-2 3-0, with two service breaks in set two. The sort of position from which any top player would find almost impossible to find a way back.

However Vickery stepped up her game and broke the Spanish serve, and held her own for 2-3.

Muguruza steadied and at 4-2 had a close look at the finish line.

That was as near as she managed though, because Vickery amazingly won 11 of the remaining 13 games to remove Garbine from the tournament 2-6 7-5 6-1.

The USA have seven women lining up in the remaining sixteen second round matches, and four already have made the third round, three of whom no one would have predicted prior to the tournament.

Just noting Simona Halep (1), Karolina Pliskova (5), Jelena Ostapenko (6) and Petra Kvitova (9) all made it through to round three, so not all gloom and doom amongst the elite.

Stadium One is the ticket to have for Day Four with both Williams sisters in action, Serena up against Kiki Bertens (29).

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov faces a tough initial test against Fernando Verdasco to complete the day session on that court.

The night card features Roger Federer (1) making his first appearance following a bye in the opening round, where he will meet Argentina’s Federico Delbonis.

Later Vika Azarenka hopes she will continue her good form against Sloane Stephens (13j, the American having only recently begun winning matches again after a long run of outs since her 2017 US Open success.