Saville stuns Jabeur in upset win

Aussie qualifier Daria Saville extended her good form by beating ninth seed Ons Jabeur 7-5 6-7 (0-7) 6-4 at Indian Wells on Saturday.

Russian-born Saville, formerly Gavrilova, wore blue and yellow i9n support of Ukraine as she took out the deciding third set in the Californian desert.

Fellow Aussie Astra Sharma didn’t fare so well, going down to 13th seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3 7-5.

But No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka crashed out to Jasmine Paolini 2-6 6-3 6-3, as the Italian broke the Belarusian’s serve four times.

“I’m so happy. I didn’t expect this moment,” Paolini said.

“I’m just happy to be here in the third round. I think I played an amazing match. The crowd was amazing. I enjoyed it very much.”

Defending champion Paula Badosa was also in action, with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win over Tereza Martincova.

“I think the difference was I played against her one-and-a-half years ago and I’ve improved a lot in so many ways,” Badosa said.

“Mentally, but physically as well because I think it was a very physical match. I could see how much I improved today.”

Leylah Fernandez prevailed over 20-year-old American Amanda Anisimova 2-6, 7-6(0) as Anisimova retired after losing the second-set tiebreak.

Petra Kvitova beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4, Shelby Rogers took out Latvian 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko and Estonian Anett Kontaveit cruised past Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 6-4, 6-1.