Karolina Pliskova suffered a disappointing exit on Monday at the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells tournament, falling to World No.115 Beatriz Haddad Maia in straight sets.
The top seed was outplayed by her lower-ranked opponent, as Haddad Maia prevailed 6-3 7-5 after just over two hours. Pliskova was abysmal on serve, hitting 12 double faults while winning only 25% of points on her second serve. This allowed the Brazilian to seize the victory, scoring the biggest win of her career. Haddad Maia gained entry into the Indian Wells main draw as a lucky loser, and will face Annett Kontaveit in the next round.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur brushed past Danielle Collins 6-1 6-3 in their third round encounter, tying their head-to-head meetings at 1-1. Collins was besieged by double faults, hitting 11 of them in their 73 minute encounter. Regardless, Jabeur was steady and proved to be the more consistent player, capitalizing on her opponents mistakes to secure the victory.
In other third round action, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic defeated 26th seed Tamara Zidansek, breaking her opponent seven times to secure the 6-4 6-3 victory.
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Into the main draw as a lucky loser, Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia takes advantage of the windy conditions and breaks Karolina Pliskova’s serve 8 times to earn a 63 75 win.
Best win of Haddad Maia’s career, 2nd Top 5 win overall.
Faces No.18 Kontaveit next.
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