Tennis-Swiatek to face Russian teen Andreeva in Indian Wells semi-finals

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

By Rory Carroll

INDIAN WELLS, California (Reuters) -Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed on Thursday, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert.

In the men’s draw, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3 7-6(4).

Swiatek, one of the gold medal favourites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the Paris semis last year, converted all five of her break-point chances during a 94-minute match that was interrupted multiple times to dry the court.

“At the end it got really windy which made it super tricky especially when the conditions change during the match you need to adjust quickly and it’s not that easy,” Swiatek said.

“It was a weird match with all the breaks and everything but I wanted to be composed and really focused and I’m glad that I did that.”

Up next for defending champion Swiatek, who has dropped just 12 games across her four matches will be Andreeva after the ninth seed’s 7-5 6-3 win over Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

Andreeva beat Swiatek convincingly en route to the title in Dubai last month and is the youngest woman to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells since Maria Sharapova in 2005.

The Russian continued to live up to the hype around her, playing a relentless brand of tennis to extend her win streak to 10 matches.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka hit a sensational running backhanded winner on match point to beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 6-3 and set up an Australian Open final rematch with American Madison Keys, who steamrolled Belinda Bencic 6-1 6-1.

“I’m really excited,” Sabalenka said of the opportunity to play Keys again after falling to her in three sets in Melbourne in January.

“I really hope I can do a little bit better than I did in Australia.”

MEDVEDEV BEATS FILS

Daniil Medvedev jumped for joy in an uncharacteristically emotional celebration after holding off Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-4 2-6 7-6(7) amid gusting winds on centre court.

The Russian took advantage of 19 unforced errors from Fils in the first set but the 20-year-old showed maturity beyond his years in the second, using backhand slices and making frequent trips to the net to level the match.

Momentum swings were frequent in the deciding set and tiebreak, and Fils smashed his racket after sending a volley long facing match point.

“The adrenaline got me going,” Medvedev told reporters.

“I jumped next to him. Then I was, like, sorry man, I usually don’t celebrate like this, but it’s okay, it can happen.”

Next up for the fifth seed is Dane Holger Rune, who beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 5-7 6-0 6-3.

Two-time defending champion Alcaraz will next play Jack Draper after the Briton dispatched American Ben Shelton 6-4 7-5 in a battle of lefties.

Alcaraz, who has said Indian Wells is his favourite tournament outside of Spain, wondered if he should make his home away from home official after winning his 16th consecutive match in the desert.

“Should I buy a house here?” he wrote on the TV camera lens after his victory.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Indian Wells, California, Frank Pingue in Toronto, Editing by Christian Radnedge, Ed Osmond, Peter Rutherford)