BNP Paribas Open: Upsets dominate fourth round at Indian Wells; Iga Swiatek out

By Associated Press

INDIAN WELLS: Upsets dominated the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open, with three top-five seeds getting dismissed in straight sets. No.2 Iga Swiatek, the highest remaining women’s seed, lost to No.24 Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday.

Ostapenko rallied from a break down in both sets on a day when the weather calmed down from the rain and wind that affected some of Monday’s matches. Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova was upset a day earlier, when she lost to Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 7-5.

American Jessica Pegula routed No. 5 Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time at Indian Wells. Pegula connected on 70 per cent of her serves and won 22 of 26 first-serve points in the 68-minute match.

She didn’t face a break point. “Really solid win. Didn’t make a lot of errors and was still aggressive. Played the big points well. I’ve just been really mentally tough this week. I’ve been fighting for every single point,” Pegula said.

US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez had five double faults in losing to Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4). Rogers knocked out world No. 1 Ash Barty in the third round at last month’s Open before falling to eventual champion Emma Raducanu in the fourth round.

“It was an incredible battle. We both played really well at times and it was a sort of tug-of-war kind of match and one that’s really fun to play. The crowd was into it on both sides,” Rogers said.

On the men’s side, American Taylor Fritz beat No.5 Matteo Berretini 6-4, 6-3. Karen Khachanov defeated No.12 Pablo Carreno Busta 6-0, 6-4. Fritz earned his seventh career win against a Top-10 player, winning not far from where he grew up in the Los Angeles area.

“I’ve been looking for some better results in these big events for a bit. I’ve let more than a couple slip away from me. I’m pretty comfortable here. I feel if anything more confident here because it’s close to home and the crowd is always great for me here,” Fritz said.

No. 6 Casper Ruud survived the onslaught of upsets, outlasting Lloyd Harris 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4. Jannick Sinner advanced via walkover against American John Isner.