Alcaraz and Medvedev hold on at Indian Wells, Sabalenka to meet Keys again

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Russian Daniil Medvedev, the top seeds, came through in a tough quarterfinals Thursday at the Indian Wells tournament, while Aryna Sabalenka won her match and will meet Madison Keys in the semifinals, a rematch of the Australian Open final.

On his way to victory, Alcaraz had to dig deep to beat Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo at the end of Thursday, when all the quarterfinal matches were played.

On a cold and windy night in the Californian desert, the Spaniard prevailed 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in a thrilling duel in which Cerúndolo also had moments of great brilliance.

The Argentine, making his debut in an Indian Wells quarterfinal, won some of the most vibrant exchanges but dropped six break points in the first set.

In the second, he was 4-1 up but Alcaraz reacted in time to reach a tiebreak.

The former world No. 1 will battle on Saturday for a place in the final against Britain's Jack Draper, who beat American Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-5 in the afternoon.

Draper, 23, is a rising star on the circuit and, after reaching the top four at the U.S. Open, will now play his first Masters 1000 semifinals.

The most dramatic match was played by Daniil Medvedev, who needed a final tiebreak to take down young Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7).

The airtight Medvedev celebrated his triumph like never before, jumping up and down several times in joy for which he apologized at the net to Fils, who then smashed his racket in anger.

The former world No. 1 will meet another of the circuit's up-and-comers, Holger Rune, making his debut in an Indian Wells semifinal, on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Dane won 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 over Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, an unexpected presence at this stage of the event.

The American drought

The women's WTA 1000 quarterfinals lived up to the predictions, starting with Aryna Sabalenka's 6-2, 6-3 win over Russian Liudmila Samsonova.

The world No. 1, still chasing her first Indian Wells triumph, thus earned the right to a rematch against American Madison Keys.

Last January, Sabalenka lost by surprise to Keys in the final of the Australian Open and missed out on her desired back-to-back win at this Grand Slam tournament.

Keys, who has won 16 matches in a row, kept local fans' hopes alive by crushing Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-1.

The Illinois-born player is the last American standing, hoping to end a 24-year drought since Serena Williams' last title.

Swiatek vs. Andreeva

In her title defense, Poland's Iga Swiatek also exacted revenge on China's Zheng Qinwen for her loss in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The world No. 2 beat Zheng (No. 9) 6-3, 6-3 and is two wins away from reaching a third crown that no tennis player has achieved so far.

In her fourth consecutive semifinals, Swiatek is also looking ahead to young star Mirra Andreeva, the new phenomenon of women's tennis.

Just a month ago, the Russian knocked out the Pole in the Dubai quarterfinals, where the teenager was crowned at 17 as the youngest-ever WTA 1000 champion.

On Thursday Andreeva opened the starting gate against another veteran opponent, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, 7-5, 6-3.