Indian Wells: Swiatek reach semis after Wozniacki retired

Iga Swiatek moved into her third consecutive BNP Paribas Open semifinal after former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki retired from their quarterfinal match on Thursday, due to a right foot injury. The final score was 6-4, 1-0, ret.

Swiatek, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, battled back from 4-1 down in the opening set to clinch the one-set lead. Wozniacki, who won the Indian Wells title back in 2011, took a medical time-out for her foot between sets, and the Dane made it only one more game before ending the match.

“I’m hoping that Caroline will be better and she’ll be ready for Miami,” Swiatek said, after the match. “It’s not the best way to win.

“But I’m happy that I played well enough in first set to win it. For sure it was tight. At the beginning we had many longer rallies, so I felt like I needed to be solid and be ready. At the end I’m happy that I used the chances in the last games.”

Swiatek will take on No.31 seed Marta Kostyuk in Friday’s semifinals. Swiatek defeated Kostyuk in their only previous meeting, notching a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Ukrainian in the Round of 16 at 2021 Roland Garros.

The 21-year-old Kostyuk booked a spot in her first career WTA 1000 semifinal with a 6-0, 7-5 win over No.28 seed Anastasia Potapova on Thursday. It was Kostyuk’s first win in three career meetings with Potapova.

Elsewhere, Coco Gauff reached her first semi finals after after defeating China’s Yuan Yue in Thursday’s quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-3.

The No.3 seed, who turned 20 years old on Wednesday, needed 94 minutes to defeat the 25-year-old Yuan in their first career meeting and better her previous best showing in the California desert by at least one round. In her first two appearances at the WTA 1000 event, she reached the third round, and last year, she reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual runner-up Aryna Sabalenka.

In the semifinals, Gauff will face the No.9 seed and 2022 Indian Wells runner-up Maria Sakkari of Greece. Sakkari advanced to her third straight Indian Wells semifinal after defeating Emma Navarro 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.