World No. 1 Simona Halep overcame strong winds and a determined Petra Martic to advance to the BNP Paribas Open semifinals with a three-set victory on Wednesday.
The Romanian’s 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 win ensured she advanced to the last four here for the third time.
Halep will next face 20-year-old Naomi Osaka, who stunned fifth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-3. Osaka, ranked No. 44, will be playing in her first semifinal of the year.
Halep was exhausted by the conditions. “It was too much,” said Halep of the 25mph gusts. “It was tough to play because the ball was really moving and we didn’t really know what’s going on on court.”.
In the men’s section, World No. 1 Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Jeremy Chardy.
The 36-year-old surrendered just three points on serve in the opening set and took control of the second with a crosscourt backhand winner that broke Chardy when tied at 4-4.
“I like his play. He hits it big, has a big serve, big forehand,” said Federer, a five-time champion at Indian Wells. Federer will next face South Korea’s Chung Hyeon, who defeated Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 6-3. It will be a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal in January when Chung had to retire due to blistered feet.
Juan Martin del Potro, a runner-up here in 2013, battled a bad back to outlast Leonardo Mayer 3-6, 7-6(2) 6-3.
The results:
Women: quarterfinals: Simona Halep bt Petra Martic 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3; Naomi Osaka bt Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-3.
Men: Fourth round: Roger Federer bt Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-4; Chung Hyeon bt Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 6-3; Borna Coric bt Taylor Fritz 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4; Kevin Anderson bt Pablo Carreno-Busta 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6); Sam Querrey bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4; Juan Martin Del Potro bt Leonardo Mayer 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6(1); Milos Raonic w/o Marcos Baghdatis .
