tennis
Surprise in Indian Wells: Navarro defeats Sabalenka
Caused a big surprise in Indian Wells: Emma Navarro. photo
© Mark J. Terrill/AP/dpa
One of the top favorites fails early in Indian Wells. The tournament has already ended for two Germans.
Tennis player Emma Navarro from the USA won the Masters Indian Wells surprisingly knocked out world number two Aryna Sabalenka from the tournament in the round of 16.
Navarro, who started the tournament 23rd in the world rankings, won 6:3, 3:6, 6:2 against the Belarusian Australian Open winner. This is the first time Navarro has reached the quarterfinals of Indian Wells. “It’s never easy to play against such an experienced and talented opponent. She made it really difficult for me, but I managed to play good tennis in big moments,” said the 22-year-old about her surprise success. In the quarterfinals she will face the Greek Maria Sakkari.
Meanwhile, world number three Coco Gauff from the USA did better and dominated the duel against Belgian Elise Mertens 6:0, 6:2.
Lucky loser loses
In the men’s race, Luca Nardi was unable to excel a second time. After the 20-year-old Italian defeated world number one Novak Djokovic in the round of 16, Nardi was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Nardi had to admit defeat to the American Tommy Paul 4:6, 3:6. Nardi, currently number 123 in the world, only qualified for the main draw as a lucky loser.
The top German pair of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz missed out on making it to the final. In the semifinals, the seventh-seeded doubles team had no chance against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic and lost 2:6, 1:6 after 56 minutes.