Top seed Karolina Pliskova and defending champion Bianca Andreescu have had their most potent weapon neutralised by strong desert winds as they crashed out of the WTA Tour 1000 event in Indian Wells.
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The biggest upset of the day came when tournament lucky loser Beatriz Haddad Maia, ranked 115 in the world, defeated Pliskova 6-3 7-5 in a match where service holds were rare as wind gusts hampered both players.
Pliskova, who reached the Wimbledon final in July and has fired more aces than any player on the WTA Tour this year, served 12 double faults and was broken eight times by her Brazilian opponent in their third-round meeting.
Haddad Maia will next face Anett Kontaveit after the Estonian beat Bianca Andreescu 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to extend her win streak to eight matches.
Kontaveit, who already has two hardcourt titles to her name this season, won the last five games of the match to see off the tournament's 2019 champion from Canada, who also captured the US Open crown that year.
In other third-round action in California, 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-2 1-6 6-4.
Kerber came out on top in a see-saw contest in which she dropped the second set after winning just 11 of 28 first-serve points.
However, the German fended off double break point to close out the match.
Ons Jabeur, the 12th seed from Tunisia, and Anna Kalinskaya also won to advance to a round of 16 showdown.
Australian Associated Press
