Wozniakci bows out

Russian Daria Kasatkina, who has beaten all four reigning Grand Slam champions in the past year, upset world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-5 at the WTA Indian Wells event on Tuesday, while World No. 1 Simona Halep and Venus Williams punched their tickets to the quarterfinals.

Kasatkina recorded her second straight win over Wozniacki and improved to 11-6 on the WTA Tour season as she seeks to better her quarterfinal appearance here in 2016.

"She outsmarted me today, which is fair enough," Wozniacki said. "I tried to do what I thought I needed to do out there today. I just couldn't execute as well as I wanted to."

It was a disappointing exit for Wozniacki, who finally silenced her critics earlier this year with her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

Meanwhile Halep breezed through her fourth round match with a 7-5, 6-1 win over China's Wang Qiang and eighth seed Venus Williams faced a stern test from Anastasija Sevastova but held on for a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 victory.