Friday evening will host the women’s singles semifinals. The first features two Major champions: Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka. The second includes two good friends who are both looking to achieve their first WTA 1000 final: Ons Jabeur and Paula Badosa.
Also on Friday, the last two men’s singles quarterfinals will be decided. Will Stefanos Tsitsipas and Sascha Zverev prevail against two players making their Masters 1000 quarterfinal debuts, setting up a blockbuster semifinal on Saturday?
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Friday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Jelena Ostapenko (24) vs. Victoria Azarenka (27) – Not Before 6:00pm on Stadium 1
Azarenka is a two-time champion of this event, though prior to this fortnight, she was only 2-2 in the desert since her last title run in 2016. Injuries have derailed her progress throughout this season, but she has been in fine form this tournament, not dropping a set through four rounds. Ostapenko was just 4-3 lifetime at Indian Wells before this year, and was a modest 23-15 on the season when she was withdrawn from the US Open due to undisclosed medical reasons. But this past month, she’s gone 9-2, and is a win away from her third WTA 1000 final. Their only previous encounter came two years ago at Roland Garros, when Azarenka prevailed in straight sets. Like most Ostapenko matches, this will mostly be decided by her winner-to-error ratio. When she starts making errors, she can become awfully negative real fast. But based on her current form, I expect Jelena to remain confident, and dictate her way to Sunday’s championship match.
Ons Jabeur (12) vs. Paula Badosa (21) – Last on Stadium 1
With Thursday’s quarterfinal win, Jabeur will officially become the first Arab player (male or female) to debut inside the top 10 on Monday. It’s been an incredible season for Ons, who has accumulated 48 wins, and is 8-1 over the last three weeks. Badosa is now into her second WTA 1000 semifinal of the year, equalling the feat she first accomplished in Madrid, her country’s biggest tournament. Paula has consecutively defeated three of 2021’s best players without dropping a set: Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova, and Angelique Kerber. These two friends played earlier this year at another American WTA 1000 event, when Jabeur outlasted Badosa in Miami 7-5 in the third. Infused with the excitement of making her top 10 debut, I expect the more experienced and eclectic Ons to find a way to overcome Badosa, and to play in the biggest final of her career come Sunday.
Other Notable Matches on Friday:
Stefanos Tsitsipas (2) vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili (29) – Tsitsipas leads their head-to-head 2-0. Both matches occurred on hard courts in 2019, and both were quite tight. Basilashvili ousted Karen Khachanov in the last round.
Sascha Zverev (3) vs. Taylor Fritz (31) – Zverev is 3-1 against Fritz, though they are 1-1 on hard courts. Their most recent meeting on this surface went to the American, two years ago in Basel. This week Taylor upset the two top-ranked Italians: Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner.
Friday’s full Order of Play is here.
