TAYLOR FRITZ AND AMANDA ANISIMOVA ADVANCE TO
SEMIFINALS AT ORACLE CHALLENGER SERIES – INDIAN WELLS
Tennis Channel and RadioTennis.com to Provide Tournament Coverage This Weekend

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – (March 2, 2018) – On a spectacular day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Americans Taylor Fritz and Amanda Anisimova powered their way past quarterfinal opponents to advance to the semifinals of the Oracle Challenger Series.

Fritz, the No. 3 seed, used his dominating serve to dispatch 8th seeded Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-2. Fritz, who will play unseeded Darian King of Barbados in Saturday’s semifinals, lost only nine points on his serve and never faced a break point.

After winning the first set, Fritz broke Sela twice in the second set and built a commanding 5-2 lead. On his first match point at 40-15 in the eighth game, he fired his sixth ace of the day to close out the quarterfinal match in 50 minutes.

In the women’s draw, 16-year-old Amanda Anisimova, dropped serve in the opening game of her quarterfinal match against fellow American Caroline Dolehide, but rebounded for a 6-3, 6-3 victory in 64 minutes. She will play 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani of Italy in the semifinals.

With her quarterfinal victory, Anisimova accumulated enough points in the Oracle Challenger Series to earn a wildcard to the upcoming BNP Paribas Open. “It feels great, knowing that you earned it and not just given the wildcard,” she said. “I love playing here, it’s beautiful and the weather is perfect. I’m excited.”

The men’s and women’s doubles final will be played on Saturday. The men’s doubles championship will feature an All-American final as Austin Krajicek and Jackson Withrow will face the wildcard team of Evan King and Nathan Pasha. In the women’s doubles final, Americans Jennifer Brady and Vania King will take on fellow American Taylor Townsend and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.

The Oracle Challenger Series will be broadcast live on Tennis Channel from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with coverage on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PST) and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (PST). In addition, RadioTennis.com will provide live radio coverage of Saturday’s singles semifinals and Sunday’s singles finals on Stadium 4. The broadcast will begin at 10 a.m. (PST) both days. Tennis broadcaster Ken Thomas will call the action at: https://radiotennis.com.

The tournament in Indian Wells is the second event of the Oracle Challenger Series. The first event was played on January 20-28, 2018 at the Newport Beach Tennis Club in Newport Beach, Calif. Taylor Fritz of Palos Verdes, Calif., captured the men’s singles title with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over fellow American Bradley Klahn in the final. Former two-time NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., defeated Sofya Zhuk of Russia 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s singles final.

The top two male and top two female Americans with the highest accumulated points in the Oracle Challenger Series will be awarded wildcards in their respective singles main draws at the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, held March 5-18 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

About the Oracle Challenger Series – The Oracle Challenger Series was created to offer American tennis players more opportunities and builds on Oracle’s commitment to help support U.S. tennis for men and women at both the collegiate and professional level. The Series will feature equal prize money in a groundbreaking tournament format that combines the ATP Challenger Tour and WTA 125K Series.

Oracle Challenger Series Indian Wells
Indian Wells Tennis Garden
Indian Wells, Calif.
Friday’s Results

Men’s Singles
Quarterfinals
D. King (BAR) d [1] M. Copil (ROU) 62 75
[3] V. Pospisil (CAN) d [Q] C. Harrison (USA) 76(7) 61
[4] T. Fritz (USA) d [8] D. Sela (ISR) 63 62
M. Klizan (SVK) d P. Polansky (CAN) 62 62

Men’s Doubles
Semifinals
A. Krajicek (USA) / J. Withrow (USA) d P. Polansky (CAN) / A. Shamasdin (CAN) 63 64
[WC] E. King (USA) / N. Pasha (USA) d L. Broady (GBR) / M. Reid (AUS) 63 67(5) 10-8

Women’s Singles
Quarterfinals
[4] K. Bondarenko (UKR) d Y. Wickmayer (BEL) 63 63
[Q] S. Errani (ITA) d [WC] D. Collins (USA) 64 61
[Q] A. Anisimova (USA) d [WC] C. Dolehide (USA) 63 63
A. Tomljanovic (AUS) d V. Golubic (SUI) 63 63

Women’s Doubles
Semifinals
T. Townsend (USA) / Y. Wickmayer (BEL) d [2] B. Krejcikova (CZE) / V. Lapko (BLR) 62 67(3) 10-6
[3] J. Brady (USA) / V. King (USA) d C. Dolehide (USA) / A. Riske (USA) 62 63