It almost seemed as if Iga Swiatek and Simona Halep had a little bet going on this Wednesday in Indian Wells. Subject? Who gets into the semi-finals with less effort. First, Halep started with the 6: 1 and 6: 1 against Petra Martic. The Romanian needed a slim 53 minutes for this.

Swiatek was no slouch. Although the 2020 French Open winner was on the court three minutes longer, she gave up one game less against Madison Keys and won 6-1 and 6-0. It was the first match in the current tournament in which Swiatek had not lost the first set.

Halep and Swiatek have met for the fourth time. The last meeting was a little over a year ago in Adelaide, Halep prevailed in three sets. The other two matches took place in Roland Garros: in 2019 the veteran won, a year later the youngster.

Today it's about the cast of the second semi-final: Maria Sakkari meets Elena Rybakina, defending champion Paula Badosa has to deal with Veronika Kudermetova.

Here the individual tableau in Indian Wells

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