After Simona Halep and Iga Swiatek blitzed past their opponents to set up a semifinal meeting in the top half of the BNP Paribas Open draw, let’s have a look at the bottom-half quarterfinal pairs who will take the court on Thursday at 11 a.m. local time.
Maria Sakkari [6] vs. Elena Rybakina [17]
The sixth and seventeenth seed have only played each other once. In the semifinal of the 2020 WTA tournament in St. Petersburg, Rybakina beat the Greek 3-6 7-5 6-1.
Sakkari will be well rested going into the match.