Pliskova in Favorite Roll After QF Win at BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells

No. 3 seed Karolina Pliskova and No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova set up a semifinal meeting at the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday with wins in the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, Calif.
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The defending US Open finalist Pliskova defeated reigning French Open winner and No. 7 seed Garbine Muguruza 7-6(2), 7-6(5), while the two-time Slam winner Kuznetsova defeated fellow Russian and No. 19 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2.

Pliskova and Kuznetsova are 1-1 career against each other going into their semifinal meeting. Muguruza said the margins were extra slim with Pliskova.

“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 — I think it was just three points that made the difference, and these three points are for the ones that have more confidence. There were things I could do better, but I think it was details, honestly.”

Thursday in Indian Wells will see the quarterfinals (13) Carolina Wozniacki vs. (28) Kristina Mladenovic, and (12) Venus Williams vs. (14) Elena Vesnina.