While Simona Halep had to work for her win, Roger Federer only had to work two sets to advance at the BNP Paribas Open. USA TODAY Sports
The men's elite eight is set, a pair of women are in the semis and a Canadian gets a free pass into the men's quarters. That's all part of the five things you need to know about the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday.
1. Sam's still swinging
Sam Querrey, the 18th seed here, is the last American man standing as he played his best match of the tournament, taking down Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. It's a big win for Querrey who has played here 13 years in a row and never made the quarterfinals until now. He's also the last person standing who can win the newly minted $1 million bonus that the tournament is giving out if a player can win both the singles and doubles in the same year. He and his partner Gilles Muller hit the court tomorrow in the doubles draw.
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"Yeah, it's the best I played so far," Querrey said. "My first-serve percentage was a little low. But other than that, I did everything really well. Really aggressive. I thought I returned pretty well against the guy. He's got a tough serve. Happy with that."
2. Simona stays strong despite wind
The winds that blew more than a few shots around Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden nearly blew away the No. 1 player in the women’s draw of the BNP Paribas Open. But the longer her match against Petra Martic went, the stronger Simona Halep’s game seemed to get. After splitting the first two sets, including a tiebreaker loss in the second set, Halep fell behind 1-3 in the third set. But Halep’s top-seeded credentials shined through after that, with the Romanian taking the final five games in the third set to close out a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory. That moves the 2015 BNP Paribas Open champion into the semifinals.
Halep had to deal with more than just Martic’s array of top-spin and slice shots. Halep also had to overcome the winds that bedeviled players, making it difficult to judge the ball to make clean, solid contact.
“I just fought to the end and maybe that is why I won,” Halep said. She then paused and said, “Actually, I don’t know how I won, but I won.” Halep is now 18-1 for the year.
3. Time to get ill
Marcos Baghdatis, who had found a resurgence here after a lackluster couple of years, was forced to withdraw late Wednesday night due to illness. About an hour before his match with Milos Raonic, the announcement came that Baghdatis withdrew with a stomach illness. One man's intestinal trouble is another man's treasure as Raonic, who made the final here in 2016, moves into the quarterfinals where he will face Sam Querrey.
4. Tall guys tearing it up
The men's elite eight is set, and it's a tall man's game this year. Joining Querrey (6-foot-6) and Raonic (6-foot-5) in the quarterfinals with wins on Wednesday were Juan Martin del Potro (6-foot-6) and Kevin Anderson (6-foot-8). Del Potro outlasted Leonardo Mayer 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 and Anderson edged Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 6-3, 7-6. The one outlier is Phillip Kohlschreiber of Germany, who swept past Pierre Herbert 6-4, 7-6. He stands only 5-foot-10.
So the quarterfinal matchups are set: 1-Federer vs. 23-Chung and Coric vs. 7-Anderson in the top half, which will be played Thursday. And it's 18-Querrey vs. 32-Raonic and 6-Del Potro vs. 31-Kohlschreiber which will be played Friday.
5. Osaka unleashed
No one in this event has a more accomplished list of victims than Japan's 20-year-old Naomi Osaka, who has never won a WTA event and had only beaten two top-10 players in her career coming into this event. She knocked off No. 5 seed Karolina Pliskova late Wednesday night 6-2, 6-3 to claim a semifinal spot, her deepest run at a Masters event. Already in this tournament she has defeated Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Sachia Vickery, Mmaria Sakkari and now Pliskova and she's only lost one set the entire time. Next up, a semifinal date with top seed Simona Halep.
