Osaka, Halep crash out of Indian Wells

| | Indian Wells
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Osaka, Halep crash out of Indian Wells

Thursday, 14 March 2019 | AFP | Indian Wells

World number one Naomi Osaka crashed out of Indian Wells on Tuesday, routed by Belinda Bencic on a day that saw second-ranked Simona Halep sent packing, too.

Bencic, ranked 23rd in the world, defeated Osaka 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the prestigious WTA premier mandatory event, where Osaka won her first tour title last year.

That marked the start of a remarkable rise that included Osaka's first Grand Slam title at the US Open. She followed that with an Australian Open crown that sent her to number one.

But she never found her feet against Bencic, whose crisp groundstrokes and precise service game propelled her to victory in 66 minutes.

"I didn't play that well," Osaka said.

"She was just playing so well ... There wasn't anything that I could do in that situation."

Bencic next faces fifth-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova, who downed Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-2. The women's field lost its top two seeds as Halep, the fell to Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

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