body-container-line-1

Indian Wells: Halep Avoids Upset But Ostapenko And Kvitova Beaten

By BBC
Tennis Indian Wells: Halep Avoids Upset But Ostapenko And Kvitova Beaten
MAR 12, 2018 LISTEN

Simona Halep survived a scare to reach the BNP Paribas Open fourth round at Indian Wells but French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was beaten.

Romanian top seed Halep lost the first set against 19-year-old American Caroline Dolehide, the world number 165, but won 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

Ostapenko, 20, lost 6-3 6-3 to Croatia's Petra Martic.

American Amanda Anisimova, 16, caused an upset when she knocked out ninth seed Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-4.

In doing so, she ended Kvitova's run of 14 victories - which have included tournament wins in St Petersburg and Doha - and became the first 16-year-old to reach the fourth round here since Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine in 2005.

"I'm still in shock," said Anisimova, who is 149th in the world rankings. "She's the best player I have ever played, and it was the biggest court I have ever played on.

"I was enjoying the moment, but at the same time, I was trying not to make myself nervous because of the huge crowd, and everything, and the big stage.

"I have been working on that a lot, just not showing any emotions, just fighting the whole time.

"I have been doing that really well these past two weeks."

US Open champion Sloane Stephens also progressed with a 6-1 7-5 win over former world number one Victoria Azarenka, who was playing her first tournament in eight months because of an ongoing custody battle over her son.

body-container-line