Seeking to become the first woman to defend the Indian Wells title in over three decades, Paula Badosa powered past Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals on Tuesday while Simona Halep and Iga Swiatek also advanced.
Badosa, who is looking to emulate Martina Navratilova's feat of retaining the crown in 1990-91, converted three out of her 12 break point opportunities and the Spaniard held her nerve in key moments of the tight contest to prevail.
Halep dispatched fellow Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-4 as the former world number one, who won the tournament seven years ago, cruised through the first set with help from her error-prone opponent. "It's challenging to play against a Romanian player, it's a little bit stressful," Halep told Tennis Channel.
World number 79 Martic has been hot in the desert, taking out 19th seeded Tamara Zidansek in the second round before outlasting U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu on Sunday."I'm a bit of a perfectionist so that definitely doesn't help always," she told reporters. "I try not to judge myself for the mistakes... I just try to compete and fight until the end."
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