It wasn't easy for her, but Marion Bartoli became the first player to advance to the semifinals in Indian Wells today. Troubled by the heat, the 15th seed engaged with 19th seed Ana Ivanovic in a match that contained thirteen breaks serve, eight of which occurred in the second set. Bartoli said that the cooler weather in the first set definitely helped her, and in the second set, she just had to slow down and take her time. Bartoli is, of course, known for a certain degree of physical fragility; today, she fought through it and defeated Ivanovic 6-4, 7-6. Ivanovic, I should add, certainly wasn't the player she was in the previous round.
The second quarterfinal match was a more efficient affair. 23rd seed Yanina Wickmayer took control of the match right away, and never let go. She defeated 10th seed Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-3. Wickmayer had a solid 74/60 first and second serve win percentage.
In doubles quarterfinal play, 3rd seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova were defeated 6-4, 6-3 by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy. Also, 4th seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova were stunningly upset 6-1, 6-0 by Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska. (Last year, Daniela Hantuchova said that she was dropping doubles, but she has evidently changed her mind; you have to have a chart to keep up with who's who on the doubles teams.)
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