Tennis News

Serena Williams will lead a distinguished field of four top-level talents in Wednesday’s top-half quarterfinal matches. We preview both must-see matches here.

Wednesday, Quarterfinals

[1] Serena Williams (USA # 1) vs. [5] Simona Halep (ROU # 5)
Head-to-head: Williams leads, 6-1
Key Stat: Williams and Halep are two of three former champions to have reached the quarterfinals here, along with Azarenka.
In four career appearances at the BNP Paribas Open, Serena Williams has won the title twice. Will she make it three out of five this weekend? To do so she’ll have to get past a recently rejuvenated defending champion in Simona Halep. Halep has all the respect in the world for Williams, but that doesn’t mean that she thinks she can’t win this high-stakes encounter. “I feel that I have the game to play against her,” Halep said on Tuesday, after getting past Barbora Strycova, 6-3, 1-0 (ret). “We will see tomorrow. It’s tough. She’s No. 1 in the world – it’s good experience for me to play against her and also big challenge.”

Williams eased past Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday to improve her career record to 21-1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. “I’m just happy to be in the quarters after three matches, so I feel all right,” Williams said. Though Williams has won six of seven against Halep, the World No.1 says she took her lopsided loss to Halep at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in 2014 as a sign that she better be on alert when facing the Romanian. “She killed me at one point, so I definitely have to be ready,” Williams told reporters on Tuesday.

Like Halep, Williams believes that Tuesday’s encounter will function as a good indicator of the current status of her game. “It will be a really good match I think for both of us to kind of see where we want to be at this point in the year,” she said.

Pick: Williams in three

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [8] Petra Kvitova (CZE #9)
Head-to-head: Kvitova leads, 6-3
Key Stat: Radwanska can take the No.2 ranking from Angelique Kerber with a trip to the semifinals at Indian Wells.

Two longtime rivals will get reacquainted on Stadium 1 on Tuesday as Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska will meet for the tenth time with a spot in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals on the line. Of their ten meetings, nine have come on a hardcourt, but here at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Radwanska seems to have done a better job at adapting to the tricky playing conditions. She’s reached the quarterfinals six times – amassing a 27-9 career record at the event – but the Pole isn’t satisfied with those numbers whatsoever. “Definitely I want to do better than the quarters, obviously,” the 2014 runner-up said. “The goal is always to win.”

As far as facing Kvitova’s dangerous first-strike tactics and booming ground game, Radwanska knows she will have to have her feet moving from the get-go. “I just hope I can really play my good tennis against her, because otherwise I will be in big trouble,” she said. “But I think always against her you really have to play good tennis and be careful, definitely on her serve.”

Kvitova has had to battle through three tough three-setters this week, but the Czech says it is working in her favor to have more time on court. “I think every [match] is very important for me right now,” Kvitova said after taking out Nicole Gibbs in three sets on Tuesday. “Definitely this big fight which I had during this tournament helped me a lot. I just really need the matches. So probably two-and-a-half hours – it’s great practice for me, too.”

Pick: Radwanska in three

-Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor

Not long after winning her record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, Serena Williams met up with a player who knows plenty about what it takes to win in Melbourne.

Victoria Azarenka won back-to-back major titles in Australia back in 2012 and 2013, but sat out the first Grand Slam of 2017, having given birth to son Leo in late December.

Serena and Azarenka have played some of the best matches in the last few years, including a thrilling three-setter in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships. Their most recent encounter came last spring, where Azarenka got the upper hand to win the first leg of her Sunshine Double at the BNP Paribas Open.

Off the court, however, it’s all love:

I always enjoy our meetings on and off the court! Always love for @serenawilliams #manymoretocome pic.twitter.com/xyJBGVpCLz

— victoria azarenka (@vika7) February 4, 2017

The Belarusian remains optimistic of a comeback, writing on social media that she hopes to extend her rivalry with the World No.1 on the court in the future.

Azarenka has undoubtedly remained plugged into the sport even from afar, congratulating Serena on her seventh Australian Open title on Twitter not long after the final:

Miss Serena @serenawilliams 23 quite a magic number! Bravo!!! Congrats to Venus as well and your family and your team!

— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 28, 2017