Lucky loser stuns top seed Pliskova in BNP

t

Beatriz Haddad Maia, shown in the final round of qualifying last week, reached
the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. Photo by Paul Bauman

    Lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil shocked Karolina Pliskova, seeded first and ranked third, 6-3, 7-5 in the wind today in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

   Haddad Maia had lost to Usue Arconada, coming off the title in the $60,000 Berkeley (Calif.) Challenger, in the final round of qualifying. But the 6-foot (1.85-meter) left-hander advanced to the main draw when No. 29 seed Nadia Podoroska of Argentina withdrew because of a thigh injury.

   Haddad Maia, ranked No. 115, reached the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time and recorded her second win over a top-10 player. She surprised then-No. 4 Sloane Stephens in the second round in Acapulco in 2019 as a qualifier.

   Haddad Maia is scheduled to play No. 18 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia on Tuesday. Kontaveit, who won two WTA titles in her previous four tournaments, eliminated No. 16 seed Bianca Andreescu, the BNP and U.S. Open champion in 2019, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

   In the second round of men's doubles, Tim Puetz of Germany and Michael Venus of New Zealand defeated No. 2 seeds and reigning U.S. Open champions Rajeev Ram, a volunteer assistant coach at the University of California, Berkeley from Carmel, Ind., and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4 [10-6]. 

   Ram won the 2017 BNP doubles title with Raven Klaasen of South Africa.

   Also today, No. 5 seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecau of Romania beat Los Angeles-area residents Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, a 34-year-old San Francisco native, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4).