Top seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and China’s Peng Shuai set up a semi-final clash with Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Samantha Stosur of Australia at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Wednesday, while defending champions and second-seeded Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina crashed out.
Doubles world No. 2 Hsieh and world No. 1 Peng were 6-3, 6-4 victors over seventh-seeded Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua in a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final, which was also won by the cross-strait duo.
Kuznetsova and Stosur rallied from a set down to edge Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-3, 10-6 in their quarter-final.
Photo: CNA
“Stosur and Kuznetsova aren’t seeded, but they’re a very strong team,” Peng told the WTA Web site. “When we played them last year in the US Open, it was a really tough match. So we will really have to be ready.”
Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and Sania Mirza of India ended Makarova and Vesnina’s winning streak at Indian Wells.
Fifth seeds Black and Mirza jumped out to a 4-0 first-set lead, before losing the next four games. They recovered, though, to win eight of the next nine to seal a 6-4, 6-1 victory, improving their career record to 16-4, despite losing three of four in the run-up to Indian Wells.
Photo: CNA
“We’ve had a few unlucky matches, so I think we were just really determined to play well here and get some matches under our belts,” Black told the WTA Web site. “We’ve done that well so far. We’re very happy with the way we played today and we’re looking forward to our next match.”
Mirza, who won Indian Wells with Vesnina in 2011, said she was happy to progress, although it was not easy knocking out her friend.
“This is one of the biggest tournaments of the year,” Mirza told the WTA Web site. “It’s great to perform well over here. It was tough, though, because I’ve played with Elena and it’s not easy playing a friend. I think we played well. It was the first time we played them together. We’re happy that we stuck to our game plan.”
Black and Mirza next face a semi-final clash against eighth seeds Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and China’s Zheng Jie.
“I played with Zheng the whole US tour last year,” Mirza said. “We made the semis of the US Open and won a tournament the week before. They’ve both won Grand Slams before. It’s obviously going to be a very tough match. We feel like we’re improving every day and hopefully we can continue.”
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