Who would have expected this semifinal clash, right? Sixth seed #ElinaSvitolina survived a list of thrilling matches and rightfully earned her spot in the last four of the 2019 #BNPParibasOpen, and her opponent will be the surprise package in wildcard #BiancaAndreescu, who is currently having the week of her career thus far.
Andreescu’s magic in the desert
Andreescu has had quite a year — winning the WTA 125k title in Newport Beach, reaching her maiden WTA final in Auckland and recording a semifinal appearance in Acapulco. Within just three months of the new year, the Canadian youngster broke a couple of grounds in her career; entering the top-100 for the first time in her career and now she is set to reach a new career-high ranking of 37 after this tournament. Definitely, if she triumphs in this encounter, a higher ranking would ensue.
Andreescu’s run seemed impossible if you looked at how hard she had to fight in her first-round clash against Irina-Camelia Begu. Coming from a set and a break down, the rising star battled past the experienced Romanian in three sets to set up a blockbuster clash with 32nd seed Dominika Cibulkova in the second round.
There, she put in an absolutely flawless masterclass performance, defeating the former Australian Open semifinalist with the symmetrical scoreline of 6-2, 6-2 to send warning signals across the field. Ousting qualifier Stefanie Voegele with the loss of just three games, Andreescu stunned 18th seed Wang Qiang in the fourth round to reach the biggest quarterfinal of her career.
Going up against former world number one and two-time Major champion Garbine Muguruza, Andreescu totally humbled her opponent as she left no mercy out on the court — stamping all over the Spaniard as she outplayed the 20th seed with a one-sided 6-0, 6-1 score after less than an hour of play.
Svitolina regains top form in favoured conditions
Svitolina received an extremely tough draw but she put in a matured performance throughout the week to survive those matches. She lived up to her status as a top player as the Ukrainian battled past several tricky opponents in encounters where she could have been prone to an upset.
Her first opponent of the tournament was a nutcracker — home favourite Sofia Kenin, the highest-ranked unseeded player who reached the final in Acapulco a week earlier. She seemed headed towards an early defeat but rebounded to defeat the American in three sets under the lights of Stadium 2.
A topsy-turvy match against Daria Gavrilova followed, and Svitolina ended her Indian Wells journey after the Australian ended her seven-match losing streak previously. The sixth seed lost serve on countless occasions but put up a fantastic return display as she powered her way to a tough but commanding 7-5, 6-4 win.
Owning a 4-0 head-to-head advantage over Ashleigh Barty, Svitolina was the obstacle between Barty and a top-10 debut. It turned out to be one of the best matches of 2019 — with Svitolina coming from a break down in the decider to triumph 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 after three-hours and 14-minutes, making it the longest match of the year as well. The Ukrainian handled the pressure well and dealt with Barty’s variety in the best possible way as she claimed yet another statement win.
Once again, Svitolina had to produce a magnificent comeback in the quarterfinals. She went up against the in-form Marketa Vondrousova and prevented an all-teenager match-up in the last four by ousting the hard-hitting Czech in three sets; triumphing from a break down in the final set. This is the Ukrainian’s best performance in Indian Wells in her career.
Who moves into the final?
Both Svitolina and Andreescu are making their first appearances in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open. More impressively, this is the Canadian’s debut in this tournament while Svitolina had reached the fourth round twice. On paper, Svitolina comes into this clash as the overwhelming favourite but you just could not expect what Andreescu could come up with on Friday night.
Andreescu’s past opponents have been hard-hitters and Svitolina will pose a different type of challenge for her — the consistency, alongside power, of the Ukrainian’s groundstrokes, could be a huge problem for Andreescu, whose main objective would be to find winners. Patience is a virtue and both players would need it for a higher chance of triumphing on Friday.
Andreescu’s dominant win over Muguruza might intimidate Svitolina although backing it up is another completely different issue now. The Canadian has defeated the likes of Muguruza, Wozniacki, Venus, Cibulkova this year and Svitolina will be looking to omit her name from that extending list.
Svitolina’s past matches may have taken a toll on her body but an extra day of rest could be extremely beneficial to her, especially with her physically-demanding game style. She is known for grinding through matches and despite being handed a tough challenge this time, Svitolina should get past Andreescu safely and put her run to a halt.
The way Svitolina has fought through her previous matches should be a good indication of how badly she wants this title to back up her Singapore title last year.
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