Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina advanced to the Indian Wells quarterfinals Wednesday after their respective fourth-round opponents — Sonay Kartal and Katerina Siniakova — retired with injuries. It marks the third quarterfinal at the event for both players and sets up two high-profile matches, with Rybakina facing Pegula next and Svitolina taking on Swiatek.

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“Very sad to win the match like this,” Svitolina said in her on-court interview. “Katerina, I’ve known her for many years and she’s a great fighter. Today I could see she was a little bit off, and of course, she played some great matches, great tennis earlier this week. For sure, it’s an unbelievable result for her. And yeah, very sad to [see her] end the tournament like this.”

Siniakova, who won back-to-back marathon matches against Leylah Fernandez and Mirra Andreeva to reach the Round of 16, appeared to be struggling physically from the outset and retired after 38 minutes with a right hip injury while trailing 6-1, 1-1. Despite the retirement, she still produced her best singles result at Indian Wells.

Svitolina, meanwhile, is through to her second straight Indian Wells quarterfinal and improved to 5-0 against Siniakova at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level. She arrived at this stage playing some of the best tennis of her career. The Ukrainian leads the tour in match wins this season with 18 and is coming off a run to the Dubai final.

Her level held steady Wednesday, albeit against a hampered opponent. Svitolina won 85% of her first-serve points and 64% of her second-serve points. She didn’t face a single break point and finished with more winners (12) than unforced errors (8).

She’ll need that form against Swiatek, who reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Karolina Muchova earlier in the day. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 4-1 and has won the last three meetings in straight sets.

Same court, same result as Rybakina wins via retirement

In an unfortunate repeat of the previous match on Stadium 2, Rybakina advanced to the quarterfinals after Sonay Kartal retired with a lower back injury. The issue had bothered the Brit throughout the match, and she ultimately stopped while trailing 6-4, 4-3 after 1 hour and 17 minutes, ending a valiant effort to push through the pain.

“Definitely not the way I wanted to finish the match,” Rybakina said in her on court interview. “And of course, speedy recovery. It’s not easy, these kinds of injuries. It was a tough match anyway, but I’m happy that I’m going through to the next one.”

While it lasted, the match featured high-quality tennis from both players. Rybakina’s trademark ball-striking was on display as she struck 26 winners to just 15 unforced errors. Several of those came directly off Kartal’s second serve, and her cross-court accuracy in the opening set was especially sharp, highlighted by a backhand return winner to fend off a game point up 5-3.

Despite Rybakina’s level, Kartal stayed within reach. Even after dropping the first set, she remained on serve through the first six games of the second set before Rybakina again punished a second serve with a backhand winner to break for 4-3. They played just three more points before Kartal called it for her first career loss via retirement at the WTA level.

Kartal had received treatment on four occasions, including an official medical timeout at 5-4 in the first set, but ultimately nothing that could alleviate the pain. Her retirement ends another strong run in the desert, as she reached the Round of 16 for the second straight year and produced one of the tournament’s biggest upsets with her third-round win over Madison Keys.

As Kartal departs, Rybakina moves on to face a familiar foe in Jessica Pegula. In what will be her 19th WTA 1000 quarterfinal, Rybakina will look to improve on her 4-3 record against Pegula. She has won the last three meetings, including a straight-sets victory in the Australian Open semifinals en route to the title.

 

 

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