Maria Sakkari beats Emma Navarro to reach Indian Wells semifinal

Maria Sakkaristated on Thursday that she detests having to play outside in the cold. She likes to play tennis at the BNP Paribas Open during the day when the sun is out because of this. 

However, despite the low of 55 degrees and a constant breeze, the Greek player, 28, overcame a set deficit to defeat American Emma Navarro and make it to her third straight Indian Wells quarterfinal. 

Sakkari's victory (5-7, 6-2, 6-4) sets up a match on Stadium Court on Friday against American Coco Gauff. 

"Coming from Greece, I just grew up playing in very hot conditions," Sakkari stated. "It helps my game more when it's hotter. In every facet of the game, today was really difficult. I just feel like it was one of the toughest days and one of the toughest matches." 

With the victory, Navarro was prevented from playing Gauff in an all-American semifinal match that would have assured the place of an American woman in the BNP Paribas Open final. Serena Williams was the last woman to advance to the Indian Wells semifinals in 2016, while Lindsay Davenport was the last to do so in 2005. 

Before coming to Indian Wells, Navarro, 22, advanced to the semifinals of the San Diego Open, where he had previously lost to Sakkari in Dubai last month. After that, she and American Ben Shelton won the Eisenhower Cup, a mixed doubles Tiebreak Tens exhibition held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. For it, she was awarded a $100,000 prize. 

In her debut at the BNP Paribas Open main event, she defeated second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and entered Thursday's match with a tour-leading 18 wins this season. 

Her run at Indian Wells came to an end when she went down a break to Sakkari as winds increased, and was unable to convert on any of the nine break points she forced Sakkari into in the second set. 

In the third set, Sakkari's serve led her to victory. She won 70% of the points on her first serve, and though she lost her serve once, she forced Navarro into four break point situations and converted twice. 

Sakkari will now play in the 10th WTA 1000 semifinal of her career. Instead of Navarro facing Gauff, it'll be Sakkari. 

"It's going to be very tough," Sakkari said, "but I'm playing great tennis right now."