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A Mini Preview Of Every Quarterfinal Matchup
5 Min Read · March 12, 2025
And then there were eight.
It’s a new Tennis Paradise tradition: all eight singles quarterfinals are set to take place on Thursday at the BNP Paribas for the second consecutive year. With defending champions Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek headlining a lineup stacked with stars.
Join us for a quick preview of the matchups.
Get TicketsHead-to-Head: Alcaraz leads 1-0
What can we say about Carlos Alcaraz that has yet to be said? The 21-year-old wunderkind rides a 15-match BNP Paribas Open winning streak into his clash with 26-year-old Francisco Cerundolo, as he ramps up his bid to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as one of three players to have completed a successful three-peat in the California desert.
The four-time champion will be the heavy favorite, but don’t sleep on Cerundolo, who rode his mammoth forehand past ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur on Wednesday to reach his fifth career Masters quarterfinal, and his first at Indian Wells.
Head-to-Head: First meeting
An American man has reached the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open for four years running. All eyes now turn to Ben Shelton, who became the youngest American man to reach the quarterfinals in 21 years with his win over Brandon Nakashima on Wednesday, to keep the streak alive.
Shelton will face the man that toppled 2022 champion Taylor Fritz on Day 8: Great Britain’s Jack Draper. It promises to be a high-octane tussle between two southpaws who just so happen to be two of the hardest-hitters in the men’s game. Look for plenty of first-strike tennis and the thinnest of margins in this first-time tussle between two future Top 10 talents.
Head-to-Head: Medvedev leads 1-0
What is it about Indian Wells that brings out the best in Daniil Medvedev every year? His preference is for flatter, faster surfaces, but there is something about the conditions here in the desert that bring the former World No.1’s tennis to life.
A skeptic at first, Medvedev is now a Tennis Paradise advocate: “Now I totally love it,” he said before the tournament. It shows in his tennis.
Medvedev brings a 19-7 lifetime record into his quarterfinal with flame-throwing Frenchman Arthur Fils, a first-time Masters 1000 quarterfinalist who has the game, and the personality, to become a massive star in our sport.
Head-to-Head: Griekspoor leads 2-0
Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands snapped an 18-match losing streak against the Top 5 when he knocked off top-seeded Alexander Zverev in the second round. The confident Dutchman has hit his stride in the desert since, reeling off subsequent wins over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Yosuke Watanuki to reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal at age 28.
21-year-old Holger Rune, meanwhile, is into his ninth. The promising Dane, a former World No.4, is still a work in progress. This week at Indian Wells, where he has defeated Matteo Berrettini and Stefanos Tsitsipas in back-to-back matches, the progress is real.
Head-to-Head: Tied 2-2
Expect some big serves when Aryna Sabalenka and Liudmila Samsonova meet. They were both inside the top 10 last year in aces and points won behind the first serve.
And both didn’t spend too much time on court in the fourth round, In Samsonova’s case, she won the first set 6-0 against two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini in about 20 minutes, losing only seven points. Their first three matchups were all close before Sabalenka won more comfortably in Cincinnati last August. In one stretch, Sabalenka won 16 of 19 points.
Head-to-Head: Swiatek leads 6-1
Iga Swiatek won’t be taking Zheng Qinwen lightly, even with a dominant looking head-to-head record.
Zheng handed Swiatek a painful semifinal loss at last year’s Olympics at the Pole’s stronghold of Roland Garros and ended up winning gold.
And at the French Open in 2022, Zheng was the lone player to take a set off Swiatek. “I need to learn from our last match and see also how she plays right now because it's been a while since we played,” Swiatek said.
The two-time champion in the desert has lost a mere six games in three matches. Zheng, meanwhile, is finding form, winning three straight matches for the first time since October.
Head-to-Head: Tied 2-2
Alicia Keys’ hit, ‘Girl on Fire,’ could refer to her namesake Madison Keys. The tennis playing Keys elevated her game against Donna Vekic in the fourth round, rallying to extend her winning streak to 15 matches.
But Bencic — in her tour comeback after becoming a mom last year — hasn’t been too shabby, either. Her win tally in 2025 isn’t far behind Keys’. “I don't think there is a Bencic 1, Bencic 2, Bencic 3. If you count how many times I came back, there should be a Bencic 7,” the Swiss said, referring to her past comebacks from injury.
Head-to-Head: First meeting
Mercurial teen Mirra Andreeva has never played Elina Svitolina before but the 17-year-old knows plenty about her.
“I saw her, of course, playing a lot of matches in the Grand Slams, at the WTA tournaments when I was not on the tour yet,” said Andreeva, riding a nine match winning streak. “So I know that she's a fighter, she runs for every ball. Now, she's also playing a little bit more aggressive.”
While Andreeva beat Grand Slam winner Elena Rybakina for the second straight tournament, Svitolina topped Grand Slam finalists Danielle Collins and Jessica Pegula in the last two rounds.
