Svitolina defies rain, Pegula for first Indian Wells WTA quarter-finals in six years

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the No 23 seed, beat American Jessica Pegula, the No 4 seed, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 to move into the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells WTA 1000 in California on Tuesday.

In a severely rain-affected match, it was Svitolina who was able to keep her focus better, coming from behind to beat Pegula for her first final eight appearance in Indian Well since 2019.

Svitolina, ranked No 23, will face the winner of the match between Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 7 seed, and Russian Mirra Andreeva, the No 9 seed, next.

The Ukrainian won against American Ashlyn Krueger (6-1, 6-7 (8), 6-3) and American Danielle Collins, the No 14 seed (6-2, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Indian Wells tournament, Pegula, ranked No 4, defeated Pole Magda Linette (6-4, 6-2) and Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-2, 6-1).

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other last 16 results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Qinwen Zheng vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Elena Rybakina vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Donna Vekic vs. Madison Keys
• Coco Gauff vs. Belinda Bencic
• Liudmila Samsonova vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Sonay Kartal
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Karolina Muchova (15): 6-1, 6-1