Halep, Swiatek Roll To Indian Wells SF Showdown; Badosa Resume Title Defense Thurs.

The first two quarterfinals in the women’s draw at Indian Wells were total blowouts.

In the afternoon, Simona Halep hammered Croatian Petra Martic 6-1, 6-1 in just 53 minutes. Halep improves to 15-3 on the season.

“I think probably best match of this year,” Halep said. “I felt super well. I felt confident. I’ve been aggressive. Everything I had to do I did, and it was pretty good.

“Gives me confidence, gives me the boost that I still can play this level. It’s been a tough year, as you know. Now coming into this tournament and playing well means a lot. I will take all the positives and I will just build my confidence more and more.”

In her second Indian Wells quarterfinal, Martic was seeking her fourth straight seeded win and a first semifinal in the desert.

Halep is now just four sets from a second Indian Wells title after winning her first in 2015. But up next Friday will be a very in-form Iga Swiatek who blew out Madison Keys 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes in a match between two recent Australian Open semifinalists.

“I felt really comfortable,” said Swiatek. “I’m also trying to get some fun as well from matches which are tight. Before where I felt stressed, I couldn’t really make that fun. But right now I’m more focused on finding solutions and I want every match to be a lesson for me.”

Swiatek has now won her last nine matches but Halep leads 2-1 in their series.

Said Halep looking ahead, “Tough, tough match because she’s playing the best tennis of her life. She’s in the best moment. I expect a really tough one. But I’m here in the semifinal, so I will take that. I will just try my best next one.”

Tomorrow, Paula Badosa resumes her fall title defense against Russian Veronika Kudermetova and Maria Sakkari meets Elena Rybakina with the winner reaching their first Indian Wells semifinal.

“Rybakina is one of the best servers on the game. I know what she likes, what she doesn’t like. She likes to hit hard,” said Sakkari. “I’m just enjoying myself right now. I think I have the game to go deeper in this tournament.”

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