Sawt Falasteen - Swiatek rallies past Kerber to book Indian Wells quarter-final berth

The 20-year-old from Poland, coming off a title in Doha last month, survived a barrage of unforced errors to beat 15th-seeded Kerber 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

"I wish I could win a match in straight sets," said Swiatek, who also dropped the first set against Anhelina Kalinina and Denmark's Clara Tauson.

Swiatek, who won the 2020 French Open, said that despite the difficulties she relished the chance to take on former Grand Slam champion Kerber on stadium Court.

"Playing against Angie, it's such a great experience," said Swiatek, who next faces either American Madison Keys or British qualifier Harriet Dart.

Former world number one Simona Halep of Romania, seeded 24th, led the way into the women's quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over 26th-seeded compatriot Sorana Cirstea.

Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion is in the quarters for the fifth time at Indian Wells,w here she lifted the trophy in 2015.

"I think I played super good in the first set," Halep said. "The second set I started to miss a little bit. But in the big picture it was a great match and I'm super-pleased with the victory."

Halep will play Petra Martic for a place in the semi-finals. Croatia's Martic beat Liudmila Samsonova 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.

In men's third-round action, sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini eased through with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over South African Lloyd Harris.

The 25-year-old Italian, seeking the first Masters 1000 title of his career, is the second-highest men's seed left in the draw behind fourth-seeded Rafael Nadal after the exits of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Berrettini, who shot to prominence when he reached the final at Wimbledon in 2021, losing to Novak Djokovic, was a semi-finalist at the Australian Open this year.

He fired 12 aces to claim the victory, polishing it off in straight sets despite trailing 4-1 in the second.

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST