Indian Wells, March 17 (BNA): Frances Tiafoe defeated 10th seed Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
The American, the 14th seed, ended the 2021 champion’s eight-game winning streak to claim his first semi-final spot at the Masters 1000.
Tiafoe hit 22 winners and only had nine fouls in effect. The victory, which was briefly interrupted by rain, was punctuated by a love game.
Tiafoe did not drop a set in four matches during the tournament. Next, he will play No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-5.
Medvedev won his 18th match in a row and improved to 23-2 this year. He injured his right ankle in the three-set victory over Alexander Zverev the previous day.
But his woes are not over yet. He fell on the court and opened his thumb in the sixth game of the second set. The wound was dressed during a medical deadline.
Medvedev broke Davidovich Fokina in a rallying high 6-5 before coming away with the win. Medvedev won 12 of the last 14 points.
On the women’s side, second seed Aryna Sabalenka won the last seven matches of the match, defeating sixth seed Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
No. 7 Maria Sakkari outlasted 15th seed Petra Kvitova 4-6 7-5 6-1. Sabalenka has improved to 16-1 this year, including reaching the Australian Open title.
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