BNP Paribas Open Round of 16: No. 1 Iga Swiatek avoided Novak Djokovic's fate, wins easily

No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek must've watched Novak Djokovic lose to an unseeded player on Stadium 1 at the BNP Paribas Open on Monday. She wasn't about to let it happen again Tuesday.

Swiatek was in total control against Yulia Putintseva on her way to a 6-1, 6-2 victory and trip into the quarterfinals. She has only dropped 10 games total this tournament in picking up three easy wins. She started with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Danielle Collins and followed that up with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Linda Noskova.

Playing this event as the No. 1 seed, Swiatek has some recent history working against her. In the last 14 WTA Masters 1000 events, only one time has the No. 1 seed won. The good news is that it was her winning in Doha earlier this year. The last time the No. 1 seed won in Indian Wells was 12 years ago when Victoria Azarenka accomplished the feat. Since then the top seed has only made it to the finals once.

Swiatek's next match will be a battle of former BNP Paribas Open champions. She will take on Caroline Wozniacki who won this event in 2011, while Swiatek won it 11 years later in 2022.

"She's really experienced and I really respect her," Swiatek said of Wozniacki. "I think she's playing great and after her maternity leave I think she's fighting to come back. It is going to be a nice match, and I am going to prepare for her like any other opponent. But I know off the court she is a really great person."

Jiri Lehecka (32) def. Stefanos Tsitsipas (11)

Jiri Lehecka had already upset fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, but on Tuesday the 32nd-seeded Lehecka showed that it wasn’t a fluke.

In the first match of the day inside a packed Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the 22-year-old from the Czech Republic soundly beat 11-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to the Indian Wells quarterfinals.

Lehecka recorded seven aces in the match and won 84% of the points on his first serve. The match lasted just an hour and 17 minutes.

Lehecka will play Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner next.

While Lehecka’s run has surely been head-turning, it’s not entirely shocking. He beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev last year in the United Cup in Australia, then beat Cameron Norrie of Great Britain and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime at the 2023 Australian Open, before taking a set from Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals.

Lehecka beat Rublev last year in Doha before losing in the semifinals to Andy Murray of Great Britain and beat American Tommy Paul during a run to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon.

This year, he won the title at Adelaide before beating Russian Karen Khachanov in Dubai prior to coming to Indian Wells.

Lehecka now has four top 20 wins this season.

Anastasia Potapova (28) def. Jasmine Paolini (13)

Anastasia Potapova overcame a brutal second set to win a third set and advance Tuesday for the first time to the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.

The 7-5, 0-6, 6-3 upset win over Jasmine Paolini of Italy was especially surprising because of how decisively Paolini dominated the second set. She finished the set with what felt like all the momentum she needed to win the match.

But after losing six consecutive games, the 22-year-old from Russia seemed to turn it on. Following a bathroom break between sets, Potapova went up a break early in the third set, held her own serve and cruised to the win.

“During the break,” Potapova said, “I looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘It’s now or never.’”

Potapova overcame eight double faults in the match, winning 72% of the points on her first serve.

Potapova will next play Marta Kostyuk, who beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenova in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.

Marta Kostyuk (31) def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (22)

Marta Kostyuk, who beat fifth-ranked Jessica Pegula earlier this month in San Diego, has played some of the best tennis of her career in recent weeks. She continued playing well Tuesday inside Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, marching into the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.

Kostyuk's decisive 6-4, 6-1 win over Anastasia Pavluchenkova of Russia moves the Ukrainian into a matchup with another Russian with the same first name-- Anastasia Potapova.

Kostyuk, who has won seven of her last eight matches, now has two top 10 wins over the last six months. She also beat then seventh-ranked Ons Jabeur in China last October, and now appears to have a decent shot to reach the semifinals at this Masters 1000 event.

Alex Zverev (6) def. (10) Alex de Minaur

Zverev dug deep after dropping the first set, and finished off de Minaur 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, ending de Minaur's winning streak.

De Minaur was coming off a win in the most recent tournament in Acapulco and had played well here in Indian Wells. But in this top-10 matchup, de Minaur's magic waned after he won a spirited first set with a late break.

This one came down to who played the big points better. Zverev faced 11 break points in the match but saved eight of them. De Minaur only faced seven break points but yielded the break five times.

Zverev, the No. 6 seed, will play Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, in the quarterfinals as form has held in that quarter of the bracket. It will be a rematch of an Australian Open quarterfinal which was won by Zverev, who has a 5-3 edge on Alcaraz in their previous three meetings.

Revenge win! Carlos Alcaraz beats Fabian Marozsan to roll into BNP Paribas Open quarters

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: No. 1 Iga Swiatek avoided Novak Djokovic's fate