The BNP Paribas Open women’s quarterfinals were wrapped up Thursday night in Indian Wells. In the top half, Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka advanced to play what will certainly be a thrilling semifinal. In the bottom half, Venus Williams and Daria Kasatkina moved ahead to play another match.

TOP HALF

Simona Halep [1] vs. Naomi Osaka

Halep reached the semifinal with a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over Croatian Petra Martic. Both players struggled to find their rhythm in the match as strong, gusty winds plagued the court. Halep explained: “I couldn't stay calm. I panicked a little bit. But, you know, you have just to keep the ball in play and just trying to find the angles.” She did find those angles eventually and won the match in just under two and a half hours.

Looking toward the semifinal, Halep admitted that she loves Osaka’s game. She added: “It's not that easy to play against Osaka, because she's also hitting the ball.” They have played each other on three occasions already, and Halep has won every encounter so far. Osaka knows what she did wrong in the last meeting and is approaching the semifinal match with confidence: “I made a lot of unforced errors while not really going for the shots that I had. So, I'm just trying to commit more and also playing longer rallies at the same time.”

Osaka reached the semifinal by stunning Karolina Pliskova with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. The Czech, known for her serve, played five aces, only one of which was in the second set. Pliskova won only 43% of service points, compared to Osaka’s 62%. Osaka, who is herself a big hitter, made the returns a big part of her strategy: “I knew that I had to really pay a lot of attention when I was serving, because it could have turned into one of those matches where holding serve is very important. When I got the break in the first game, I sort of shifted a little bit more attention to returning, because it seemed like she was a little bit unconfident on her serve today. I tried to focus a lot on returning and just making her play a lot of balls.”

Kasatkina earned her spot in the semifinal with a 58 minute, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Angelique Kerber. Kasatkina had a stunning

BOTTOM HALF

Venus Williams [8] vs. Daria Kasatkina [20]

Kasatkina earned her spot in the semifinal with a 58 minute, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Angelique Kerber. Kasatkina had a stunning 82% first serve percentage and did not face a single break point. Kerber was 1/6 on break points and only 62% on first serves. After the first set, Kerber did have a few glimmers of her old self, starting the set with a hold of serve, but her energy was quickly depleted when Kasatkina held twice and broke for a 3:1 lead. Kasatkina played at her peak, while Kerber struggled to find her rhythm in the match. Kerber will not allow the defeat to take away from the resurgence she is having this year though: “It is coming, and I played already so many good matches this year. This one I will try to forget as fast as possible, but still, I know what my game plan is. I know what I need to do. I'm always trying when I'm on court to improving my game. I have this in my mind, and sometimes you have days like today, especially when you have a game like I have.”

Kasatkina knew it was her day from the moment she stepped onto the court for warm-ups: “the weather was on point. My kick was on point. Everything was fits well. I'm pretty happy with my game today. I think I was not, like, really on cruise (phonetic), but I was doing the right things to win.”

Kasatkina has played Williams on two occasions, both in 2016 and both took three sets. The Russian won their first match in Auckland, but the American took the second one at Wimbledon in a dramatic and long battle. Kasatkina has not forgotten it, but she will not let it burden her here: “I lost from – I was break up in the third, I guess, and I lose 10-8 in the third. Yeah, but it was on the grass. It was very good match, because she's one of the best on this surface, winning Wimbledon few times. It was the first tournament where I won the match on the grass court, so I guess was pretty good one, even if I lose. But here is different story completely, hard court, and we'll see. No pressure, no expectation.”

Venus Williams was not burdened by the past looking forward “I don't have any special plan. Really just try to play well… I'm about tomorrow. I'm a tomorrow person. If you can learn from the past, that's great to be better in the future.” Williams beat Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-2 for her spot in the semifinal. Her best results at Indian Wells has been the semifinal round, she reached it in 1998 and 2001.