World number one Aryna Sabalenka will face Naomi Osaka in the fourth round of the Indian Wells Open after Coco Gauff had to retire from her match because of an injury to her left arm on Sunday.
Sabalenka reached the last 16 after beating Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 6–4, 6–1 in a strong performance. Her victory sets up an exciting match against Osaka, a former champion of the tournament.
Osaka, the 16th seed, defeated Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6–1, 3–6, 6–1. The win was also a form of revenge after Osorio knocked her out in the first round of the same event last year.
Another player who moved forward was the Philippines’ young star Alexandra Eala. She was leading Gauff 6–2, 2–0 when the American had to stop playing because of her injury.
During the first set, Gauff was already behind 5–2 when she took a medical timeout. A trainer worked on her left arm and shoulder. After Eala won the first set, the trainer wrapped Gauff’s forearm, but the treatment did not help. After 54 minutes, Gauff went to the net and told Eala she could not continue.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka looked very confident in her match against Cristian, hitting 23 winners to secure the win. The Belarusian is still trying to win her first title at Indian Wells after finishing as runner-up twice at the tournament.
Osaka won her first Indian Wells title in 2018, a breakthrough year when she also captured the US Open. During that run, she defeated Sabalenka in their only previous meeting. Since then, both players have gone on to win four Grand Slam titles each.
This is Osaka’s first tournament since she withdrew before her third-round match at the Australian Open due to an abdominal injury. She started strongly against Osorio but struggled in the second set. Osorio broke her serve to lead 4–2 and forced a deciding set.
In the final set, Osaka regained control quickly. She broke Osorio’s serve early to go up 3–0 and finished the match without facing another break point.
In other matches, sixth seed Amanda Anisimova and seventh seed Jasmine Paolini also advanced to the fourth round. Anisimova needed only 52 minutes to defeat Britain’s Emma Raducanu 6–1, 6–1, while Paolini beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7–5, 5–7, 6–1.
