Forced to contest the biggest match of his life in unfamiliar footwear, Norrie was at first thoroughly downtrodden by the human howitzer that is Nikoloz Basilashvili. But he is not a man given to dwelling on setbacks. From a set and a break down, Norrie came storming back to claim one of the biggest prizes outside the majors, in the process eclipsing former finalists Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Andy Murray to become the first British champion in the California desert. 

With his second title of the season, Norrie reaches a career high of 16th in the world rankings, moving into contention for a place at the ATP World Tour Finals in Turin. It has been a remarkable rise. Norrie started the year ranked 74th in the world; he has since won 47 matches, contested six finals, and now stands just 115 points behind ninth-placed Hubert Hurkacz in the race for Turin.

“What an incredible week I‘ve had here,” reflected Norrie after his 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory. “It was a strange match. It was over quite quickly; the last kind of set, I was expecting it to be longer. He made a couple of errors towards the end. I still don’t really know what I’m experiencing. It was an amazing couple of weeks, and I’m so happy with how I treated all the occasions, all the big moments, all the matches.”

Norrie’s ability to navigate challenges extended to the loss of his footwear. The issue had preyed on his mind in the initial stages, he confessed, before frustration gave way to calm acceptance.

“Every day, I left my shoes on top of the locker,” said Norrie. “I think someone, I don’t know who it was, maybe someone from the cleaners or something last night, came through and they threw the three pairs of shoes that I had away. I looked all day. I had everyone looking. I don’t know what the people have against the Brits with stealing the shoes, but I didn’t manage to get them back. Just had to go out there with a fresh pair of shoes. It was difficult.

“I don’t think it mattered too much. Ideally, I like to play with shoes that I’ve been using for maybe five or six hits or practices or warm-ups. I like to have them a little bit used. They feel a bit heavy in general if they’re newer.

“A couple of times I was thinking about it, probably not the best thing. You don’t want to be thinking about your shoes. [It took] a little bit to get used to. At one point I said, ‘All right, these are the shoes I’ve got, I’m just going to focus on what I can control right now.’ I wore them in a little bit, came good in the end.”

Central to the turnaround was an instinctive yet astute shift of approach as Basilashvili served to stay in the second set at 5-4. The powerful Georgian had compiled a sequence of five consecutive games to wipe out an early 3-1 deficit, but Norrie worked his way back into the contest in trademark fashion, remaining patient, extending the rallies, testing his opponent’s mental and physical endurance. But sometimes you have to change a pattern to assert a pattern, and now Norrie switched things up. Moving inside the baseline to caress a drop shot that drew the scrambling Basilashvili into the forecourt, Norrie then scooped a lob over the 29th seed to send him hurtling in the opposite direction. Basilashvili made it back with time to spare, firing a low backhand down the line, but Norrie had snuck into the net and shifted his feet smartly to slot away the resulting volley. 

Norrie showed a more spectacular turn of pace to move within two points of the set, racing on to a Basilashvili approach shot to knife a backhand pass down the line. A slew of unforced errors followed from the Georgian, who faded so dramatically that he won only one more game. We always knew Norrie had a big pair of lungs; now we know he has a tennis brain to match. Victory was his deserved reward for a journey of small steps, patient progress and relentless endeavour.

“I think my progression with tennis has been pretty steady,” said Norrie. “Obviously I’ve not been too quick to get up [the rankings]. I went through the challengers fairly quickly. Around kind of 60 to 80, I was stuck there, then made a jump forward. I think I’ve just been working hard and progressing nicely, making small improvements in my game and in my ranking.  

“I think honestly doing it this way, getting slowly, slowly better every year, improving little things, I don’t think I’ve missed anything, made any big jumps. I’ve been working extremely hard.”

Basilashvili, who missed three chances to break back after falling behind early in the decider, said he was hampered by physical issues down the home straight, but paid tribute to Norrie’s resolve and mental fortitude. 

“I had some problems, health problems, in the third set,” said the Georgian. “I tried to go out, take a breath a bit, but I could not recover. I had it already little bit on previous matches, but now it was too severe in the third set.

“I did not have anything left. I will not say what it is because I don’t want to say, but I did not feel good. But I think Cameron, that he came back in the second set, he deserves it. He was very tough mentally. I could not find in second set how to beat him.”

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Every player has their own path, however, and six years on – and after much toil – Badosa, now 23, has acquired the conviction of a champion. Facing Victoria Azarenka in the final of Indian Wells, she needed every ounce of that self-belief and work ethic to survive an extraordinary comeback from the indefatigable former world No 1, but survive she did, prevailing 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 7-6 (7-2) to win the biggest match of her career. 

The victory cements a breakthrough season for the New York-born Spaniard, who won her first WTA title in Belgrade in May, and subsequently reached the quarter-finals at both the French Open and the Olympics. She will now rise to a career-high 13th in the rankings, her prospects of winning a place at the season-ending WTA Tour finals in Guadalajara significantly improved. 

“It was a really tough match,” said Badosa, who also beat grand slam champions Barbora Krejcikova and Angelique Kerber en route to the final. “I think it was like a rollercoaster mentally, emotionally. It was my first final in a [WTA] 1000. I had a lot of emotions. I was playing Vika. She’s a great champion. I admire her since I was a little girl, so that’s another thing.

“It was amazing. I’m still a little bit in shock that what happened right now. But in that moment, I was super excited and super proud of what I did, after three hours fighting on court.”

At three hours and four minutes, it was the longest women’s final this year. It was also quite possibly the finest. The opening set, an epic tussle spanning an hour and 18 minutes, was a classic in its own right, a carousel of ferocious, gruelling baseline exchanges. It began with Badosa fending off three break points to win a nine-minute service game, continued with Azarenka saving three of her own in the next game, and culminated in a tiebreak after the players had shared two breaks each – and a combined total of 15 break points. There was, quite literally, nothing between the two women, who won 55 points each, Badosa finally squeaking home by the narrowest of margins with a searing crosscourt backhand winner. 

“I would agree with comparing it to the match of the year,” said Azarenka, who was left to rue the loss of the opening set after recovering from 4-3 and 6-5 down. “I think the entire match, the quality of tennis was [at a] super-high level. We were both going for our shots, really pushing each other to the max.

“I think that’s what made it super entertaining, that competitive spirit, really fighting for every ball, not giving in anywhere. It’s very challenging to maintain that.”

Many would have folded after falling behind; Azarenka simply greeted it as a spur to further effort. Badosa spoke warmly afterwards of how the Belarusian had inspired her as a rising teenager. If she wondered back then what it would take to become a member of the game’s elite, she knows beyond doubt now. Azarenka, twice a champion in Indian Wells, was magnificent, exuding positive energy and levelling the match almost through sheer force of will. After a break in the ninth game of the decider, she stood two points from victory only to be undone by errors. Badosa seized the reprieve with both hands.

“I knew that for any player in the world, even a champion, it’s very tough to close the match. I knew I had to stay there as much as I can, keep fighting. I tried to fight for every point in the 5-4 game. I think I played very good from 5-5 to 7-6.”

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Having already displaced Dan Evans as British No 1 by dint of his quarter-final victory over Diego Schwartzman, it has been quite the week for Norrie. Dimitrov, a former world No 3 who knows what it is to lift the ATP Finals trophy, was thoroughly outclassed by Norrie, who showed no sign of nerves as he closed in on his first Masters 1000 final. 

“I was just going out there and playing my game and making the rallies long,” said Norrie, the 21st seed. “Honestly, not once I was thinking about it. When I went to serve for the match, I was like, ‘This is definitely a big service game here.’ I was a little bit nervous. But I came out and I served great. I think it helped with the new balls. 

“I was just really in the present moment and wasn’t really thinking too much. I was enjoying my tennis and playing.”

It showed. Dimitrov is not the first player to struggle with Norrie’s singular combination of a heavy topspin forehand and a pancake-flat backhand, and he is unlikely to be the last. There were shades of Nadal-Federer in the way the British southpaw repeatedly drew his opponent wide on the forehand before peppering his one-handed backhand with high, kicking balls that neutralised Dimitrov’s attacking threat. 

Allied with his relentless focus and consistency, not to mention a Rafa-like ability to run all day, Norrie’s tactics were too much for Dimitrov. The 30-year-old had already endured gruelling three-setters against Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz to make the semi-finals, and this looked a match too far from the outset.

Just as he had done against Schwartzman in the previous round, Norrie raced into a commanding early lead. Four games passed before Dimitrov finally made an impression on the scoreboard, at which point Norrie made a rare misstep, gifting Dimitrov a break with a sequence of unforced errors. 

Norrie’s response was indicative not only of the mindset that has now brought him 46 victories this season, but also the self-belief those triumphs have instilled. There was no hint of panic, no suggestion that he might alter a winning strategy, but rather a quiet determination to continue about his business. The reward was swift, Dimitrov missing two consecutive forehands from 30-all in the next game. With his double-break advantage restored, Norrie served out the set to love.

Now Dimitrov abandoned his efforts to drive through his backhand, instead going to the slice in an effort to keep the ball low on Norrie’s forehand. It made no difference, Norrie once again seizing an early break. Dimitrov’s best chance to regain a foothold in the contest came and went in the fourth game, where Norrie responded to losing a 33-shot rally with an ace before saving a break point with a powerful surge into the forecourt. By the end, Dimitrov had resorted to trying to take his backhand on the half-volley; again, it was to no avail.

In the second semi-final, Basilashvili came through 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 against Taylor Fritz to reach his first Masters 1000 final. The 36th-ranked Georgian, who saved three set points in the opener, expects a tough test against Norrie.

“He’s not so nice to play with from the baseline,” said Basilashvili, the 29th seed. “He’s been playing really, really smart and very good tennis. I’m looking forward. If I can play my game and be relaxed, I think I can play well.”

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Ons Jabeur had struggled all evening to find her best tennis, but as she served to stay in the match at a set and 5-2 down, the Tunisian’s game was belatedly sparking into life. Jabeur saved one match point with a crisp, ankle-height volley and another with an overhead. A conservative return proved Badosa’s undoing on a third, and when Jabeur not only held but immediately opened up a 0-40 lead in the next game, the Spaniard’s first serve deserting her, a result that had looked a formality only moments earlier suddenly hung in the balance.

The Badosa who started this year ranked 70th in the world might have buckled. The Badosa who will rise to a career high of 11th if she prevails in Sunday’s final against Victoria Azarenka refused to yield. Badosa had shown steely resolve to see out a straight sets win over Angelique Kerber in the previous round after the German had clawed her way back into contention from a set and 5-2 down, and her self-belief was once again evident here. An off-forehand winner and a couple of solid points from the back brought the 21st seed back to deuce, and although she would miss a further two match points – the first when a thunderbolt forehand from Jabeur kissed the back edge of the baseline, the next with a nervy double fault, her second of the game – Badosa finally clinched the contest at the sixth opportunity, a Jabeur backhand drifting wide.

Badosa may not have Jabeur’s extensive repertoire of shots at her disposal, but this was a performance that spoke volumes about her virtues, from the excellence of her return game to her superb movement and teak-tough mentality. Jabeur, who with her quarter-final win over Anett Kontaevit became the first Arab player to make the top 10, had rightly stolen the headlines going into the contest. But Badosa’s progress in the California desert, where, in addition to Kerber, she has also seen off Coco Gauff for the loss of just four games and beaten French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, has been no less impressive. Like Jabeur, she will rise to a career-high ranking next week, breaking into the top 20 for the first time regardless of the outcome against Azarenka, and like Jabeur she is closing in on a possible maiden appearance at the season-ending WTA Tour finals in Guadalajara. 

“I think I improved a lot on my tennis,” said Badosa, the first Spanish woman to reach the final since Conchita Martinez in 1996, following her 6-3, 6-3 win. “Mentally, I think I’m very confident. I’m believing every point. Every day I’m working very hard as well. I think I’m progressing on a little bit of everything and that’s what is making my level going up. That’s why I’m in a final and playing against the best of the world.”

Azarenka, a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Jelena Ostapenko, will nonetheless have taken note of Badosa’s recent struggles down the home straight. The Belarusian, twice the champion in Indian Wells, recovered from a set and a break down against Ostapenko, and vowed afterwards: “I’m going to fight until the end, so if you [want] to beat me, you have to beat me all the way.” 

Badosa, for her part, needs no reminding of Azarenka’s pedigree. “Vika, she’s an amazing champion,” said the Spaniard. “She has been here a lot of times. She has a lot of experience there. I expect a tough match.

“I’ve seen her a lot, a lot of finals, winning grand slams, 1000 tournaments. I know how she’s playing. She’s very intense. She’s a tough one. She’s a competitor. She fights until the last ball. 

“But I like these kind of matches. I’ve never been through to a final, so I can’t wait to play it. I always dreamed to be in one. I can’t wait.”

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Indian Wells, a tournament that likes to style itself as the “fifth major”, only does big names. Since Roger Federer won his first title in 2004, the tournament has been monopolised by the big three, with only Ivan Ljubicic, Juan Martín del Potro and Dominic Thiem able to break the stranglehold of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. With that trio of 20-time slam winners absent, this year was always going to be different, but nobody could have imagined quite how different.

Those seeking the comfort of the relatively familiar, following Grigor Dimitrov’s defeat of Daniil Medvedev, the top seed and recently crowned US Open champion, will perhaps have been reassured by the continued presence of Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world No 3 and French Open finalist. Up against the 36th-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili, whom he had beaten in both their previous two meetings, Tsitsipas looked a racing certainty to bring a little star quality to the climactic weekend. Basilashvili had other ideas. 

Few players hit the ball harder off the ground than Basilashvili and, having prospered earlier this year in the hot desert climate of Doha, where he beat Federer en route to the title, the Georgian has found the conditions in Indian Wells much to his liking. A poor opening service game from Tsitsipas saw him fall behind immediately, and as the Greek struggled to contain Basilashvili’s power and impose his customary authority from the baseline, a second break soon followed. 

That proved decisive for the Georgian, but he had taken a set off Tsitsipas in both their previous encounters only to come unstuck, and history looked set to repeat itself when the Greek hit back strongly to win the second set. Tsitsipas was once again forced to recover from a bad start in the decider, but when a costly double fault handed Basilashvili a second break in the seventh game, the man from Tbilisi was not to be denied, holding firm on serve to see out a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory. 

If the watching world was shocked, Basilashvili was not. “Surprised?” he reflected after reaching the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career. “Not really. I have been playing good tennis a long time in practice. I just didn’t have the first serve. It was missing, I had a big minus in the serve. [But] I improved a lot my serve lately.  I think that’s why I’m in the semis now. In general, in the game, from the baseline – physically, as well – I’m feeling really good, I’m playing good, feeling the ball really well. If I will manage this kind of serving well, I can keep playing good.”

With Tsitsipsas out, the task of upholding the natural order fell to Alexander Zverev, the Olympic champion and third seed. The German came into his match against the 39th-ranked Taylor Fritz with 20 wins from his past 21 matches, and looked certain to add another victory to that run as Fritz served to stay in the contest at 2-5, 30-40. The Californian, who had earned his place in the last eight the hard way with wins over Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini, had given a decent account of himself, bouncing back to level the match after losing the opening set, but the errors were mounting now and, as Zverev absorbed a baseline barrage to roll a crosscourt forehand on to the baseline, the post-match handshake looked imminent. Fritz, though, lunged to his right and somehow scooped a forehand back into play, eliciting a cheap error from the stunned Zverev to maintain his interest in the battle. It proved an unlikely turning point.

“I played a solid point,” said Fritz following his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory. “I made a pretty good pick-up off a deep ball. I easily could have missed that. I just told myself I really needed to hold that game, just to kind of fight through that. I really wanted to make him have to serve out the match. Obviously, he’s three in the world. This is the furthest I’ve ever been in a big tournament. It’s easily the best win of my life, against a really tough opponent in arguably the biggest match I could possibly play. So it’s great.”

In truth, Fritz’s powers of retrieval should not have mattered. Zverev held a match point in the next game, only to produce a double fault as his game started to unravel. It was all the encouragement Fritz needed, the American seeing out the climactic tiebreak in emphatic style to book a semi-final appointment with Basilashvili.

“Today was just not really my day,” said Zverev. “I was close to winning, but the level of tennis was just not quite there for me.

“Fritz played a great match. He deserves to be in the semis. Yeah, I mean, today mentally is not easy for me.

“This one hurts, because I knew that after Stefanos lost this morning, I was kind of the favourite to win this tournament. But my tennis wasn’t there.”

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Jabeur’s latest success, a 7-5, 6-3 quarter-final victory over Anett Kontaveit in Indian Wells, means she will enter the world’s top 10 for the first time on Monday, the first Arab in history to do so. It is the culmination of a childhood ambition, but there is surely more to come. Like any aspiring youngster, Jabeur also dreamed of being world No 1; Ashleigh Barty, the current holder of that position, is arguably the only higher-ranked player who even comes close to matching her guile and variety. 

Could she go on to become a multiple grand slam champion like Sharapova? Ability and ambition are certainly on her side, although for now her focus is firmly on her first WTA 1000 semi-final, where she will play Spain’s Paula Badosa, and on cementing her claim to place at the season-ending WTA Finals in Guadalajara.

“I was looking more at the race at the beginning of the tournament,” said Jabeur, the 12th seed, following her tour-leading 48th win of the season. “This is a dream coming true. This is something that I’ve been wanting. 

“I always wanted to get there, to be No 1 in the world. Top 10, I know, is the beginning. I know I deserve this place from a long time, since I was playing well. But I want to prove that I deserve to be here, I deserve to be one of the top 10 players.  There are a lot of things that I need to improve. 

“I’m very happy, a lot of emotions right now, but I’m still in competition so I’m trying to calm down and not overthink about top 10. Probably I will celebrate after the tournament. I just believed in myself, I worked hard, and this is just the beginning of great things.”

The greatest obstacle to further progress may be Jabeur herself. The prodigiously gifted Tunisian has worked hard to bring greater discipline to her decision-making, and improved shot selection has been key to her continued rise in a year that brought her first WTA singles title in Birmingham this summer. An abundance of options can nonetheless be a double-edged sword, and such was the case for Jabeur as she served for the opening set against Kontaveit at 5-4, an ill-advised drop shot finding the net on break point. “Sometimes I cannot control my hands,” smiled Jabeur, who had initially stormed to a 4-1 lead in just 20 minutes.

Kontaveit was unable to build on the breakthrough, dropping serve for the third time as Jabeur fired winners off both wings, and this time Jabeur played a solid service game to consolidate the break and claim the set. If she was feeling tension as she closed in on her latest piece of history, Jabeur wasn’t showing it. Lunging for a forehand in the next game, she performed the splits and then, having failed to make the shot, transitioned seamlessly into a press-up position, knocking off a couple of reps before strolling off to her chair with a grin. She had good cause to be relaxed. Her repertoire of chipped passes, deft drop shots and audacious angles was more than Kontaveit could cope with, for all that the Estonian came into the contest having won 16 of her last 17 matches following title wins in Cleveland and Ostrava. 

With her dream of a top-10 ranking achieved, Jabeur thrust her arms skyward in triumph. “I really didn’t look much at the ranking, but I knew I was kind of not far. I was talking to my mental coach and I told her, ‘This is too much [stress].’ But I told her, ‘I need to do this, I need to go through this to be able to win a grand slam one day.’ 

“To go and win a grand slam, you need to take this step. I am trying. I’m trying so hard to calm myself down and handle all this stress, because I want to be a grand slam champion. If I want to do that, then I need to go through this.”

The next step will involve a meeting with Badosa, the 21st seed, who Jabeur counts as a close friend. The Spaniard, a quarter-finalist at this year’s French Open, defeated former world No 1 Angelique Kerber, a finalist at Indian Wells in 2019, 6-4, 6-3. Jabeur had jokingly hoped that the pair would play a five-hour marathon.

“I hope tonight Ons eats a lot of burgers and she cannot play,” Badosa teased in response. “We were talking just now. It’s really fun to play against her. We’re really good friends. It’s going to be a tough one. She’s playing amazing.”

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How wrong we were. Focused, fearless and nigh on perfect in everything he did, Norrie marked his first appearance in the last eight of a Masters series event with a demolition job, comprehensively outplaying the 11th-seeded Schwartzman for the loss of just two games. With his 45th victory of the season, a figure that takes him past Novak Djokovic, the Briton is likely to enter the world’s top 20 for the first time. He will also displace Dan Evans, whom Schwartzman defeated in the third round on Monday, as British No 1. 

Nobody beats the dogged Argentine 6-0, 6-2, particularly on a surface as slow as the one in Indian Wells, but by the end Schwartzman looked bereft of ideas. He had been outclassed in every department. Schwartzman was unable to outsteady Norrie. He was unable to use his trademark fleetness of foot when Norrie pulled the trigger from the baseline, such was the pinpoint accuracy of the Briton’s shot-making. He was unable to live with the potency and variety of Norrie’s play, watching on helplessly as his opponent fired winners from the back and angled off winning volleys at the net. When Norrie responded to a feathered drop shot with an even better one, struck with extraordinary finesse at the end of a lung-busting sprint into the forecourt, Schwartzman spread his arms wide in disbelief, utterly nonplussed. 

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, those twin luminaries of the British tennis establishment, hailed it as the best performance they had seen from Norrie. When Martina Navratilova, covering the tournament on British TV for Amazon Prime, asked Norrie if it was the biggest win of his career, he replied without hesitation: “I think so. It was such a big moment for me this morning, playing my first Masters 1000 quarter-final, especially against Diego, he’s such a great competitor and I thought I was in for an absolute battle. I’m so pleased to be through and I think, yeah, it’s probably my biggest match – and my biggest win – of my career, with all the circumstances and all the pressures. I was really happy with the way I handled everything.”

Norrie will face Grigor Dimitrov in the last four after the Bulgarian, who beat top seed Daniil Medvedev in the previous round after trailing by a set and 4-1, once again came from behind to beat Hubert Hurkacz, the eighth seed, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

Hubert won 92% of the points behind his first serve in the opening set, ensuring a break in the eighth game was sufficient to give him the early lead. Dimitrov began to find his range in the second set, eventually levelling the match after clipping the net cord with a sliced backhand on set point. Having saved a break point early in the decider with an extraordinary lunging forehand volley, Dimitrov established a commanding 5-2 lead only for Hurkacz to hit back and force a tiebreak. Dimitrov held firm, however, finally sealing the win in two hours and 40 minutes.

“It was very hard for me to find my range today,” said Dimitrov, the 23rd seed. “Of course I was a little bit tired from yesterday, I didn’t feel like had enough time to really rest and push, but I still felt that I knew I had something in me. As soon as that second set ended, I knew that I had to step up a little bit more and be a little bit more aggressive.

“I started reading his serves a little bit more and I had a few looks. I kept on trying, I kept on believing, and I think that made the difference. Even in the third set, even when I was up, I felt like the match was never over. I knew he was going to fight and come back and play good tennis. I couldn’t finish the way I really wanted to, but I stayed in. That was the difference.”

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Through it all, the one constant has been Ostapenko’s commitment to attacking tennis, and it was that enduring quality that saw her past Shelby Rogers at Indian Wells as she overcame a mid-match dip to reach her biggest semi-final since that run in Miami three years ago.

Full of confidence after subduing second seed Iga Swiatek in the previous round, Ostapenko made a storming start, winning five of the first six games to establish a commanding lead. The barrage of winners slowly subsided, however, and as Rogers came to terms with the firepower being thrown at her, she won three successive games to lend an air of respectability to the first-set scoreline. 

“From 5-1, I just stepped back a little bit and I was not that aggressive, and also maybe missed some balls, kind of gave her the opportunity to play,” said Ostapenko, the 24th seed. “If I just was playing the same like until 5-1, I think I could close the set a little bit easier than 6-4. I felt like I was rushing a little bit too much and making some stupid errors.”

Ostapenko was playing with fire. Rogers’ sparkling form of late has carried her to victories over world No 1 Ashleigh Barty at the US Open and, in the previous round here, Flushing Meadows finalist Leylah Fernandez. Having gained a foothold in the match, the tenacious American roused herself, treating Ostapenko’s second serve with the same contempt her own had received in the initial stages as she levelled the contest before racing ahead in the decider.

Rogers held three break points for a 4-1 lead in the third set, but a fired-up Ostapenko staved off the danger with some audacious play as she held firm for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win.

“I think at that moment I just started to play really well,” said Ostapenko, who fill face former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka in Friday’s semi-final. “I raised my level. I think from 1-3 down, 0-40, I played like a top player. Before, I was rushing too much, making some unforced errors not in the right moments.

“I was just trying to kind of motivate myself and fight for every point … I felt like I needed to fire myself up, have some emotions, and that will help me. I think that did help me.”

Azarenka charted a more serene course to the last four, avenging her first-round defeat to Jessica Pegula at this year’s Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the American. 

“I started going for my shots from the beginning,” said Azarenka, who is bidding for a third title in Indian Wells. “I knew I had to apply pressure on her. 

“I think in the beginning of the match we had a lot of great rallies, a lot of points where I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I got this one,’ and she got me. I felt that I really just stuck to being aggressive and being consistent. I got my opportunities.”

In the top half of the draw, Anett Kotaveit of Estonia, the 18th seed, will face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur for a place in the semi-finals, while former finalist Angelique Kerber takes on Spain’s Paula Badosa.

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By that reckoning, it should have taken Daniil Medvedev all of seven minutes to book his place in the last eight at Indian Wells at the expense of Grigor Dimitrov. That was how long the top seed required to break the Bulgarian’s serve in the opening game of the match, laying the foundations for a one-set advantage that, when he broke once again at the start of the second, looked certain to be decisive.  

Sure, stuff happened after that first game. There were rallies, lots of them, the most important of which were won by Medvedev. There was some gorgeous shot-making from Dimitrov, as there always is, most notably an improvised half volley, hit from behind his back and through his legs, that surprised the Russian into volleying wide early in the second set. But Medvedev, the world No 2, has been virtually invincible over the course of the North American hard court swing, winning the Toronto Masters and reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati before claiming the biggest prize of all at the US Open. With the opening set in the bag, he seemed to be coasting to victory, imperious, unassailable.

There are, however, lies, damned lies and statistics. A talent like Dimitrov’s doesn’t bow to numerical diktats – often it doesn’t bow to the diktats of Dimitrov himself – and, while it is true that semi-final appearances at three of the four slams and a solitary ATP World Tour Finals trophy are hardly achievements commensurate with his lavish talent, the world No 28 remains eminently capable of troubling the world’s best. 

Trouble Medvedev he did, helped along by a spectacular implosion on the part of the Russian, whose game inexplicably and comprehensively deserted him as he stood two games from victory. So completely did the Russian buckle that, from a set and 4-1 up, he lost 10 of the next 11 games, including a sequence of eight games in a row. Statistical likelihood offers no protection against an inspired opponent or a misfiring serve.

“He definitely flipped the switch,” said Medvedev of the uptick in Dimitrov’s game that carried the Bulgarian to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory. “Talking about myself, I did become a little more tired maybe. At the same time, it’s not that I started missing everything and like really playing bad. I still maintained some level, so many matches it would be enough to finish the match. 

“About Grigor, I have not much to say. He played the second part of the match better than anybody did against me in US Open that I won. Playing this level, I don’t see him losing to anybody, but let’s see the result.”

Trailing 4-1 in the decider, Medvedev’s frustration boiled over. He slammed his racket furiously into the court, shattering the frame and earning a code violation for his troubles. His displeasure, however, was entirely understandable. Having made 69% of his first serves in the opening set, the Muscovite’s success rate fell to just 28% in the second. As the unforced errors mounted, so the belief and consistency seemed to drain from his game. When he finally ballooned a forehand long on match point, it felt like a merciful release. 

Dimitrov’s excellence aside, Medvedev identified the slow conditions and switch to a daytime slot as the determining factors in his defeat. “I don’t remember myself losing four service games ever on hard courts. That shows how slow this court is, and the conditions – more like clay, I would say, which I don’t like – because to lose serve four times is just unacceptable. That’s why I lost the [second] set.  

“I knew that during the day, [it would be] much tougher to control the ball for me, especially on the serve. That’s what we saw in some moments I couldn’t pass my first serve. That’s why I was asking to play at night, but this time it was not possible because I had a day off where other guys played yesterday, and were supposed to play today, so they were playing late at night. That’s completely normal, but I knew it’s not going to advantage me.”

While the defeat ends a nine-match winning streak for Medvedev, Dimitrov can reflect with satisfaction on a victory that, from a set and a double break down against the tour’s hottest player, should not have been possible.   

“Impossible until possible, I guess” said Dimitrov, who will face Hubert Hurkacz, the eighth seed, in his first Masters series quarter-final of the season. “He’s such a tough competitor. Over the past year and a half I played him a few times already and I wasn’t able to find a way against him. But today, I don’t know, I just felt something at 1-4. I just, like, calmed myself down a little bit and started taking better decisions.

“He’s been the guy that has been playing the best out of everyone and always finding a way,” Dimitrov later added. “It was a great, great match for me to win. But that’s not the end, that’s just another match. 

“I’ve got to stay focused and look [at] what’s ahead of me.”

What lies ahead is Hurkacz, who ran out a 6-1, 6-3 winner against Medvedev’s compatriot Aslan Karatsev. 

Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman followed up his three-set win over Britain’s Dan Evans with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Casper Ruud, the sixth seed. Schwartzman will now face British opposition for the second time in three matches after Cameron Norrie, the world No 26, ousted Tommy Paul of the US 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. 

Taylor Fritz maintained domestic interest in the tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italy’s Jannik Sinner, the 10th seed. Fritz was joined in the quarter-finals by Nikolaz Basilashvili, the 29th seed, who beat Olympic finalist Karen Khachanov 6-4 7-6 (8-6).

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Indian Wells has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Pliskova, who reached the quarter-finals or better at each of the tournament’s previous four editions. Here, however, the blustery conditions wreaked havoc with the Czech’s game. Facing the Brazilian southpaw Beatriz Haddad Maia, a player she had brushed aside for the loss of just two games in their only previous meeting, Pliskova committed 42 unforced errors, crashing to a 6-3, 7-5 defeat. For Haddad Maia, who suffered a final-set whitewash against Usue Maitane Arconada of the US in the second round of qualifying, victory over the world No 3 continued a remarkable turnaround following her return from a 10-month suspension for a doping violation.  

“It was very tough today, the wind was the worst,” said Haddad Maia. “That’s tennis sometimes, we can’t control the conditions. Both of us knew that the conditions would be tough today and I knew that I had to work today with this feeling. I knew that I couldn’t feel the ball well because sometimes the wind was changing [the flight of the ball], but I’m very happy to do it.”

“I was very happy and proud to come here. Also I had two chances, because I had a very tough match in qualies and I lost in the third set 6-0, I was very upset. When I had a second chance, I think I did my best. For sure this tournament is very special for me.”

The Brazilian will face Anett Kotaveit in round four after the Estonian 18th seed defeated Andreescu, the 2019 champion, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Kontaveit, who has won titles in Cleveland and Ostrava since entering a coaching partnership with Dmitry Tursunov, the Russian former world No 20, appears to have the Indian sign over Andreescu, having now beaten the Canadian in each of their three meetings. 

An early break set the tone, and although Andreescu battled back to see off three set points and level the set at 5-5, Kontaveit finished the opening-set tiebreak strongly. Striking her forehand with venom despite the swirling wind, the Estonian went on recover from 3-1 down in the second set, reeling off five successive games to seal the win.

“I didn’t play my best, and I didn’t feel my best,” said Andreescu, whose ranking will now drop significantly as the points drop off from her 2019 win. “I had to deal with what I had, and obviously it wasn’t enough.

“The conditions were a bit tough, as well, with the wind and the sun, but Anett, I honestly don’t think she played her best tennis either. She was the better player today.

“It was windy like the whole match, but I just felt like it kept getting worse as the match went on.”

Fortune favours the versatile in such conditions, and no one is more adaptable than Jabeur. Danielle Collins’ opponents have spent much of the summer wondering how to stop the combative Floridian, and here Mother Nature provided the answer. Eleven double faults and a meagre 28% success rate behind her second serve told the story of Collins’ unsuccessful battle against the elements, but the American’s 6-1, 6-3 defeat owed at least as much to the excellence of Jabeur, for whom it was all very much business as usual. Using the wind to her advantage, the Tunisian produced her usual array of violently spun drop shots and whirling slices, pulling the hapless Collins from pillar to post. The highlight came early, Jabeur chasing down a drop volley on her forehand side before racing back to flick an outrageous running backhand pass.

“It’s good to have good hands today,” said Jabeur, who has her sights set firmly on a place at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara. “It helped me a lot. I’m glad that I was really relaxed and trying to enjoy the slices, the dropshots that I was doing.

“It was very tricky when you don’t know where the ball is going to bounce, if it’s going to end up somewhere else, not the impact you want to hit in. I think I managed pretty well to keep the ball on the court. 

“I’m going to tell you the secret. I come from a very windy city, so it’s on the beach. The last three years of pre-season we practice in a very windy city. Maybe today it kind of helped. It could really get ugly with the wind. 

“It was kind of similar to today. I felt kind of used to it. We had a lot of practices when it was windy. 

“I think I’m used to playing in the wind. With all the tools that I have, all the shots that I have, it think it really helped me get the win.”

Jabeur, who is currently ninth in the eight-woman race to Guadalajara, will play Anna Kalinskaya, a Russian qualifier ranked 151 in the world, for a place in the last eight.

Paula Badosa, the 21st seed, saw off Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-2 to set up a last-16 appointment with French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, while Angelique Kerber continued her summer resurgence with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 victory over fellow former finalist Daria Kasatkina. Ajla Tomljanovic stands between Kerber and a place in the last eight after the Australian came through 6-4, 6-3 against Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia.

In the men’s draw, top seed Daniil Medvedev will play Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round after defeating Filip Krajinovic, the Serbian who beat him at Indian Wells as a qualifier two years ago, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1).  Cameron Norrie claimed the scalp of Roberto Bautista Agut, the Spanish 15th seed, with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win, but Dan Evans was unable to make it a British double, slipping to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 defeat against Diego Schwartzman.

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