WITH six players from the United States taking the court at Indian Wells for the fourth day of action in our WTA Tour fantasy tennis tournament, it was bound to cause a few upsets. Four of the six Americans got through to the next round, of which three were unseeded – Venus Williams, Jessica Pegula and Lauren Davis – downing their higher ranked opponents. They joined Italian Camila Giorgi as the only other unseeded player through to the Round of 32, while most of the other results went as planned.

Giorgi downed 28th seed Czech, Barbora Strycova in a come-from-behind win to move through to the Round of 32, 4-6 6-2 6-3, with a similar story for 25th seed American Amanda Anisimova who was the fourth United States representative through to the next round. Anisimova fought back from a set down against Great Britain’s Heather Watson to post a 5-7 7-6 6-3 win, while compatriot Pegula also needed three sets to knock out Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, 6-3 2-6 6-0 in a dominant deciding set. Williams took down the biggest challenge in the upset of the day, with the 39-year-old defeated 13th seed Croatian Petra Martic in straight sets, 6-4 6-2. Davis triumphed with a 7-5 6-2 win over 31st seed, Saisai Zheng, as Bernada Pera and Jennifer Brady bowed out to 14th seed Garbine Muguruza and 23rd seed Karolina Muchova respectively.

It was much easier going for top seed, Ash Barty who cruised through with a 6-2 6-0 win over Poland’s Magna Linette, while it was a similarly easy time for fourth seed Elina Svitolina who won 6-1 6-2 against Japan’s Nao Hibino. Fifth seed Kiki Bertens had her challenges however, needing three sets to finally shake off China’s Lin Zhu in an hour and 47 minutes, 6-2 2-6 7-6. The 12th seed Johanna Konta also had to fight hard to finally get past her experienced opponent Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4 4-6 6-2, as Croatia’s Donna Vekic and Greece’s Maria Sakkari fought back from deficits to post wins in a remarkable day of action. Vekic knocked out Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas, while Sakkari defeated Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in see-sawing contests.

Other winners on day four were sixth seed Swiss, Belinda Bencic, 16th seed Czech, Marketa Vondrousova and 24th seed Russian, Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Some of the tantalising matches on day five tomorrow include third seed Sofia Kenin up against unseeded German Julia Goerges, American Alison Riske taking on Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, and Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson looking to continue on from her upset of Madison Keys against 20th seed Belgian, Elise Mertens.

ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:

[1] Ash Barty (AUS) defeated Magna Linette (POL) 6-2 6-0
[4] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-1 6-2
[5] Kiki Bertens (NED) defeated Lin Zhu (CHN) 6-2 2-6 7-6
[6] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-4 6-2
[12] Johanna Konta (GBR) defeated Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 6-4 4-6 6-2
Venus Williams (USA) defeated [13] Petra Martic (CRO) 6-4 6-2
[14] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Bernada Pera (USA) 6-4 6-2
[16] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) defeated Polona Hercog (SLO) 6-1 6-7 6-3
[18] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 3-6 6-4 6-3
[21] Donna Vekic (CRO) defeated Zarina Diyas (KAZ) 1-6 6-4 6-2
[23] Karolina Muchova (CZE) defeated Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-4 4-6 6-3
[24] Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) defeated Anna Blinkova (RUS) 6-3 6-2
[25] Amanda Anisimova (USA) defeated Heather Watson (GBR) 5-7 7-6 6-3
Camila Giorgi (ITA) defeated [28] Barbora Strycova (CZE) 4-6 6-2 6-3
Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated [30] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-3 4-6 6-0
Lauren Davis (USA) defeated [31] Saisai Zheng (CHN) 7-5 6-2