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Emma Raducanu’s run at Indian Wells has come to an end after world No.1 Iga Swiatek continued her title defense with a 6-3 6-1 victory on Tuesday to set up a quarter-final against unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
Swiatek was under pressure early in the opening set, but some clean ballstriking helped him hold on to a 3-2 lead after two tight service games. He leveled up further to destroy Raducanu in the next game before retreating.
After finishing the first set when Raducanu sent a long shot from the baseline, Swiatek got an early break in the second to pile the pressure on the Englishman, whose unforced errors began to rise.
Swiatek, who is looking to become only the second woman to successfully defend her Indian Wells title after Martina Navratilova in 1990-91, raced to a 5-1 lead as she played flawless tennis and ran her opponent ragged.
The US Open champion sealed the victory when Raducanu hit the net on serve at the end of a great run in the Southern California desert.
“I can generally say that it was a positive week for me,” Raducanu said. “Team, I think we had three very good games.
“It was a good experience today playing Iga on the field at night. I think the situation is very slow and heavy and like him. But, yes, it’s just good to see where I am.
“I think it’s been a good 10 days. I haven’t trained especially before the tournament, but I think I need a day to recover physically, because since the tournament started, I’ve been doing some training. something every day.
“So (I’ll) reset a little bit mentally and physically tomorrow, then take it from there.”
Earlier in the day, Coco Gauff rallied from a break down in the final set to beat Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-3 1-6 6-4 and reach the quarters for the first time.
After taking the first set, the sixth-seeded American began to struggle with her forehand in the second and an opportunistic Peterson applied the pressure by going into the net.
But after suffering an early break in the decider, Gauff stepped up her defense, fending off three break points at 4-4 and breaking Peterson four times on match point to book a place in the last eight.
Gauff, who turned 19 on Monday, was serenaded with ‘Happy Birthday’ by the crowd.
“Today, it was just a matter of mentality, staying in the match,” Gauff said.
“I didn’t play my best for a while and didn’t serve as well as I wanted to, but I think my mentality is still there.”
Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie is through to the quarter-finals after the 10th seed won 6-2 6-4 against Andrey Rublev.
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Cameron Norrie beat Andrey Rublev with a 6-2, 6-4 straight sets victory to secure a place in the Indian Wells quarter-finals
Draper retired hurting Alcaraz
Jack Draper was forced to retire in the second set of his fourth-round match with Carlos Alcaraz at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The 21-year-old Englishman was finally ruled out by an abdominal injury he picked up during his previous match against Andy Murray.
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Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells ATP Masters with a 6-2, 2-0 win after Jack Draper retired with an injury after 46 minutes of play.
He went shot-for-shot with the Spanish No. 2 in the early stages, but seemed to fall behind as the first set wore on.
Draper’s serve and movement suffered as Alcaraz raced to a 6-2 opener.
Several treatments from physios between sets did little to improve his condition, and the world number 43 could only last two games in the second set before retiring.
The result means Alcaraz moves within three wins of reaching the world No 1 ranking.
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