“It was a good match,” said Kerber, who was down a break in both sets. “I was trying to feel my game again. I was moving good, but it was not so easy because she didn’t play badly. I was trying to stay positive and play my tennis.”

“Tennis is awesome, I can say,” Vesnina said.

“This was the biggest final and today, it was big,” Vesnina said. “It was electric, to be honest. I felt the atmosphere. It was a very important match for me.”

Kristina Mladenovic and Elena Vesnina reached their first career Indian Wells semifinal.

“I think it was a very tough match, yesterday in press I said this was one of the toughest matches I could have,” Muguruza said after losing in two tiebreaks. “I’m not disappointed at all.”

In women’s quarterfinal play Wednesday, it’s Muguruza-Pliskova and Pavlyuchenkova-Kuznetsova.

Three Top 10ers in the field, in addition to Australian Open runner-up and former No. 1 Venus Williams

“I loved accounting, I have to be honest,” Venus said in a wide-ranging post-match meet with the press, filling a match discussion void after losing only one game.

“I’m fit,” Kerber said. “I am prepared for playing, like, two, three hours, so that’s not a problem. Tomorrow I have a day off, so it’s not a big deal. I think I will be fine.”

Six of the Top 10 in attendance…Lots of unseeded floaters including a former No. 1 and a Slam winner…

Five Top 10ers in the impressive field…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Opening-round testers for (1) Raonic vs. Querrey, (5) Nadal vs. The Dog, (7) Dimitrov vs. Johnson, (8) Ferrer vs. Tomic, and (6) Pouille vs. Simon…

Who were the best and brightest from 2016?

Who will win their first WTA Finals title, Angelique Kerber or Dominika Cibulkova?

The WTA Finals semifinals will take place Saturday in Singapore.

SATURDAY SINGAPORE SFs: Kerber v Pliskova/Radwanksa; Kuznetsova v Cibulkova.