Serena Schools Sloane; Sharapova Bounced in Indian Wells

Serena Williams came out sluggish in her fourth round match up against fellow American Sloane Stephens, but after dropping the first set, the world number one stormed back and came out victorious 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2 at the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday.

Stephens came out swinging and was the aggressor early on. She broke Serena in her first two service games and took a quick 3-0 advantage before Serena could even blink.

Serena woke up after that and broke back, eventually giving herself a set point up 5-4. But Stephens forced a tiebreak and won it to capture the opening set in just under an hour.

Although Stephens was able to win the first frame, Serena had established control in the match. From there it was all her, winning 12 of the final 16 games, wrapping up the final two sets in just over an hour.

“Sloane played really well in the first set. Actually in the whole match,” said Serena. “I’ve always thought Sloane can be really great. She’s on the right track. She played really well, and she had some very good wins here against two seeds. It was a really positive result, even today.”

After getting broken on her first two service games, Serena didn’t allow a single one afterwards, saving all three of the other chances she faced. Despite nine double-faults, she fired 14 aces, displaying her power to move past Stephens.

Even with the loss, Stephens had a good showing in Indian Wells, taking out 13th seed Angelique Kerber and 22nd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, after poor showings in her first few tournaments of 2015.

“I thought I played a really solid first set,” said Stephens. “Obviously I was playing the number one player in the world, so it was going to be a little tough. She played really well in the second and third sets. You know, win some, you lose some—I think it was a good effort by me today though.”

Serena is now on a 14-match winning streak dating back to the end of 2014. Her last loss came to Simona Halep in the round-robin stage of last year’s WTA Finals.

In the quarterfinals, she will take on the 27th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky. The Swiss ousted 23rd-seeded Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday.

“She’s the best player for years. She’s amazing,” Bacsinszky said of Serena. “She could be an inspiration for every athlete, men and women, any kind of athlete, because she has this power, this will and ferocity. I will definitely have to give all my heart and soul to find a solution.”

Defending champion Flavia Pennetta extended her winning streak at the BNP Paribas Open, coming back from a set down to beat second-seed Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The tipping point of the match came while Pennetta was serving at 2-2 in the second set. Down 0-30 on serve, Pennetta won four straight points to hold and take the 3-2 advantage, and from there she won 10 of the next 13 games to close out Sharapova.

“I’m really happy about this win,” said Pennetta. “In the second set I tried to be more aggressive. My serve helped me a lot, and I was also really aggressive on the return, so she was starting to have some problems on her serve. It was a really good match. I was really fighting until the last point.”

Pennetta will take on 24th-seeded Sabine Lisicki in the quarterfinals. The German cruised past rising star Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-4 to advance.

Third-seeded Simona Halep was also a winner on Thursday, moving past another rising star in 14th seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-4.

“I think I have a good return. That’s why I can win against here,” said Halep, noting Pliskova’s big serve. “But I just tried to play my game, be aggressive and stay very close to the baseline. Sometimes I did a step behind because she’s hitting so strong, but I have confidence eight now, which is the most important thing. I went on court and I was fighting for every ball, and I think that’s my style.”

Up next for Halep is the 12th seed Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain, who hung on to beat Heather Watson 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1.

The other quarterfinal in Indian Wells will pit 18th seed Jelena Jankovic and Ukrainian qualifier Lesya Tsurenko.

Tsurenko fought back from a set down to beat sixth-seed Eugenie Bouchard 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 while Jankovic moved past 31st seeded Belina Bencic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

The quarterfinal action begins later today at the BNP Paribas Open.