Desert Stunners: Andreescu, Pliskova bow out to inspired Indian Wells opposition

WATCH: Haddad Maia scored the biggest victory of her career over top-seeded Pliskova on Monday.

The completion of Indian Wells’ third-round action saw two of the top women’s seeds exit the California desert in straight sets.

While defending champion Bianca Andreescu ran into a streaking Anett Kontaveit, few would have predicted former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova would fall to lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia, likely denting her chances of finishing the year atop the WTA rankings.

With the dust settled, Haddad Maia will face Kontaveit for a spot in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.

Catch up on the two biggest results of the day:

[18] Anett Kontaveit def. [16] Bianca Andreescu, 7-6 (5), 6-3

The Estonian train keeps rolling: Kontaveit extended her winning streak to eight in a row when she dethroned Andreescu in just under two hours on Court 2.

Back in the Top 20 after winning her third career WTA title in Ostrava—her second victory of 2021—the 25-year-old has amassed an impressive 13-1 record since partnering coach Dmitry Tursunov at the end of the US summer hard-court swing, winning her last 12 sets heading into Indian Wells.

Though Kontaveit had beaten Andreescu earlier in the season on grass in Eastbourne, hard courts have long been the better surface for the 2019 US Open champion, who burst onto the scene when she won this event as a wildcard nearly three years ago.

Andreescu has endured her share of narrow defeats in 2021; her Open title defense ended in three sets at the hands of Maria Sakkari in the fourth round, as did her Canadian Open campaign to Ons Jabeur.

Fresh off a late-night victory over Alison Riske to kick off her fortnight, the Canadian began Monday’s contest on the back foot as she quickly fell behind a break in the opening set.

I think you can never get tired of winning. I’ve been feeling really well on court and the confidence from previous matches helps. Anett Kontaveit

Andreescu’s fighting spirit was on full display when it came time her in-form opponent to serve at 5-4; ever-talented off the ground, Kontaveit has long struggled to capitalize on opportunities dating back to a 2017 Wimbledon defeat to Caroline Wozniacki. Blustery conditions aided in allowing three set points to go begging and Andreescu broke straight back to level at five games apiece.

Experience and momentum—qualities typically on the former No. 4’s side—instead helped Kontaveit right the ship in impressive fashion as she swept the ensuing tiebreaker and steel through a tense second set to win the final five games of the match.

Playing remarkably clean tennis given the swirling winds, she ended the match with 23 winners to a near-even 25 unforced errors—stronger than Andreescu’s 18-34 differential.

“Today, she was the better player,” Andreescu said in defeat. “We both, I think, didn't play our best, but she was the better player. I did my best. That's all I can ask for.”

A quarterfinalist at the 2020 Australian Open, a win over Haddad Maia would guarantee Kontaveit her best result in Indian Wells and put her a win from matching her run to the 2019 Miami Open semifinals.

[LL] Beatriz Haddad Maia def. [1] Karolina Pliskova, 6-3, 7-5

Pliskova, by contrast, has often been a fixture in the later rounds of the BNP Paribas Open, but for as well as she can bend the game to her will, she encountered no such luck against Haddad Maia, who broke the once and future Ace Queen eight times to advance in two hours and four minutes on Court 3.

Struggling to reign in her famed service action, Pliskova duffed 12 double faults in two sets and struck 42 unforced errors to Haddad Maia’s 18.

A former world No. 58, the Brazilian lefty has been away from the game’s biggest stages since serving a 10-month suspension for an Anti-Doping Regulation Violation, having tested positive for metabolites of two Selective androgen receptor modulators in 2019.

Cleared to return to action at the height of the global pandemic, Haddad Maia started from scratch, winning four ITF Pro Circuit titles in 2020 and five more in 2021—including two 60Ks in September.

Taking on her first Top 70 opponent in well over two years, the 25-year-old emerged from an early exchange of breaks to take a 3-1 lead, later saving four break points and break serve a third time to move a set from victory.

More breaks abounded in the second as the two combatants each managed one hold through the first 10 games. Broken when serving for the match at 5-3, Haddad Maia settled to regain the advantage and clinch the upset on her second match point.

Haddad Maia will take on Kontaveit for the first time on Tuesday