Russia’s Daria Kasatkina kept up her magnificent form with a stunning win over 10th seed Angelique Kerber in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.
Kasatkina, seeded 20th, won 6-0 6-2 in just 58 minutes to reach her third semifinal in the last four tournaments.
It was her second top-10 win of the week, following her victory over Australian Open winner Caroline Wozniacki, and she has beaten all four reigning grand Slam champions in the last six months.
Kerber failed to earn a single break point as her 20-year-old opponent completely dominated in Indian Wells.
Winners flowed off both sides as three breaks of serve brought Kasatkina an opening love set in 22 minutes, and even though Kerber gained a foothold at the start of the second, she could not hold off the rampant Russian.
Blink and you missed @DKasatkina booking her ticket to the @BNPPARIBASOPEN semis!
Tops Kerber 6-0, 6-2. pic.twitter.com/VRj8LsnYYG
— WTA (@WTA) March 15, 2018
Three opportunities to close out games went begging, allowing Kasatkina to power towards the finish line, sealing victory with an ace to set up a semifinal against Venus Williams or Carla Suarez Navarro.
World number one Simona Halep will face Japan’s 20-year-old Naomi Osaka in the other semifinal.
“Everything what I showed today I was doing on the practices, so was just playing, like, really calm,” said Kasatkina.
“I don’t want people to think that I’m somebody really special,” she added.
“Because I’m just a normal human who loves football, who loves good food, you know. So I’m just somebody who is also playing tennis.”
Kerber won just six points on serve in the first set and needed 29 minutes to get a game on the board.
“For me and for my game, it’s difficult how she’s playing,” said the German.
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