Halep Ousts Gauff; Martic Stuns Raducanu to Reach Round of 16

No. 24 seed Simona Halep of Romania, the 2015 BNP Paribas Open champion, is into the Round of 16 for the sixth time after a businesslike, 6-3, 6-4 upset of No. 16 seed Coco Gauff at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Halep, recently aligned with coach Morgan Bourbon, saved all four break points she faced against Gauff, at 18 the youngest member of the Top 100.

No. 11 seed Emma Raducanu of Great Britain became Sunday’s first upset victim, falling to No. 79-ranked Petra Martic, 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5. Martic, 31, moves on to face No. 28 seed Liudmila Samsonova, who earlier in the day defeated Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic, 6-4, 7-6(4).

The loss will likely sting for the 19-year-old Raducanu, who was playing in only her 11th career main draw at the WTA Tour level. She would serve for the match ahead 5-4 in the third set, but couldn’t find a way to close it out.

“This win means a lot to me,” said Martic, whose last win Top-20 win came back in 2019 in Zhengzhou (def. No.13 Aryna Sabalenka). “I really wanted it so bad. I’m just happy I stayed calm when I was not playing so good, because the match was up and down from both sides. We both had some good periods and bad ones out there. I’m happy I managed to let that go and just focus on the next point.”

The 2018 Indian Wells quarterfinalist will next turn her attention to Samsonova, against whom she is a perfect 3-0.

“We played a few times. She’s obviously a good player,” said Martic. “The last few months, she’s played really good. No matter how it was in the past, it’s going to be a really tough match.”

No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek won her seventh straight match, though the Pole needed two hours and 18 minutes and three sets to get past 29^th seed Clara Tauson, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1.

“I’m getting pretty experienced at winning matches from one set down. I’m really happy about that because in previous years I’ve been struggling with confidence after I loss the first set. Right now, I’m just finding solutions,” said Swiatek, who took a cue from Rafael Nadal’s 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(3) turnaround against Sebastian Korda on Saturday. “I watched Rafa’s match yesterday and he inspired me. If he can win against a guy who’s serving that fast and break him in the last few games, anything’s possible. He showed that also at the Australian Open. I believe in myself. I’m trying to do that, as he is.”

The 20-year-old now awaits the winner of the third-round matchup between Daria Kasatkina and Angelique Kerber.