Anastasia Potapova beat Jasmine Paolini 7-5 0-6 6-3 to reach the third WTA 1000 quarter final of her career at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Potapova ended the seven-match winning streak by WTA 1000 Dubai champion Paolini.
Paolini held serve from 0-30 down in the third game. The Italian player saved the first break point in the fifth game with three forehands to hold serve at deuce.
Paolini earned three consecutive break points in the eighth game. Potapova saved the first chance, but Paolini converted her second break point with her forehand to take a 5-3 lead. Potapova broke back in the ninth game for 4-5. Potapova broke for the second time in the 11th game and held serve at love to close out the first set 7-5. The Russian player won 17 of the next 21 points from 3-5 down.
Paolini won four consecutive points from 0-30 down in the first game to hold serve. The Dubai WTA 1000 champion raced out to a 5-0 lead with two breaks of serve in a one-sided second set after 22 minutes. Potapova faced the first set point with a double fault in the sixth game, but she saved it. Paolini broke serve on her second set point to take a bagel win in the second set.
Following a bathroom break between sets Potapova went up a break in the third game of the decider to take a 2-1 lead. Paolini faced a break point at 2-4 down but she saved it to hold serve. Potapova held on her next service games and broke for the second time on her first match point after 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Potapova will face either Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova or Marta Kostyuk in the quarter finals.
“During the break, I looked at myself in the mirror and said: ‘It’s now or never”, said Potapova.
Potapova won the 2016 Wimbledon girls junior title beating Dayana Yastremska in the final and finished runner-up at 2015 US Open and 2016 Roland Garros girls tournaments.
Potapova clinched her first WTA title at Istanbul during a breakthrough year in 2022. During a successful 2023 season she won her second WTA Tour title in Linz and reached the semifinals in Stuttgart and Birmingham and the quarter finals at Lyon, Miami and San Diego.
Potapova reached the third round at three Grand Slam tournaments at the Australian Open in 2021 and at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2023. The Russian player is currently ranked world number 33, but she reached her career-high of world number 21 in June 2023. She won six matches against top 10 players in her career: Angelique Kerber in the first round at 2019 Roland Garros, Anett Kontaveit in the quarter final of the WTA 250 in Prague 2022, Coco Gauff in the third round in Miami and in the second round in Stuttgart in 2023, Caroline Garcia in the quarter final in Stuttgart in 2023 and Ons Jabeur in the second round in San Diego in 2023. Potapova married to Kazakh tennis player Alexander Schevchenko last December.
