Numerous women’s singles seeds were sent tumbling Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 3 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and the No. 4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine all lost their fourth-round matches in straight sets.
In addition, the player who knocked out top-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic on Monday, Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, was routed Tuesday.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the 24th seed, beat Swiatek 6-4, 6-3, and Spain’s Paula Badosa, the 21st seed, topped Krejcikova 6-1, 7-5. The United States’ Jessica Pegula, the 19th seed, blitzed Svitolina 6-1, 6-1, and 18th-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia defeated Haddad Maia 6-0, 6-2.
Another star was ousted from the draw when 23rd-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Canada, a U.S. Open finalist last month, lost 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) to the United States’ Shelby Rogers. Fernandez saved a break point at 5-6 in the third set to force the decisive tiebreaker, but Rogers won the last three points to seal the match.
Ostapenko needed only 93 minutes to get past Swiatek.
“I knew it was going to be a very tough match because she’s such a great player, she won a Grand Slam and she’s playing great tennis,” Ostapenko said. “I really came with a strong mentality to this match. I knew I had to fight for every point, be aggressive, and I think I did that pretty well today.”
Pegula worked just 68 minutes and never faced a break point. Svitolina served seven double faults and won just 12 of her 32 second-serve points.
“I think I played really solid with not a lot of errors, was getting a lot of really good depth on my balls, was coming in when I needed to, serving well when I needed to,” Pegula said. “It was a great day.”
Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the 10th seed, easily beat unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-1.
–Field Level Media