Stan Wawrinka makes a crucial mistake at Indian Wells

Credit Stan Wawrinka with keeping his sense of humor after a gasp-inducing mistake in the third-set tiebreaker Wednesday proved his downfall against David Goffin of Belgium, who beat him, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5), in the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open.

The tiebreaker was even at 5-5 when Wawrinka, seeded third here, got the great gift of a high bounce and an open court ... only to whack an overhead comically long. Goffin, seeded 15th, held on to advance to the quarterfinals against Marin Cilic of Croatia, a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 victor over Richard Gasquet of France.

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“Was a match without brain, let’s put it that way,” Wawrinka said, smiling.

The two combined for a hefty 13 service breaks, which is nothing new for them. Two of their previous three matches included two tiebreakers, but this was the first time Goffin won. “I had to be aggressive to take the ball early because he can play really heavy with his backhand, obviously, but also with his forehand,” Goffin said.

In other round-of-16 matches, No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, to set up a quarterfinal with the winner of Wednesday’s late match between No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 11 Dominic Thiem. “I’m actually glad to have a match like this with not much complications,” Djokovic said. “Feliciano is a very difficult player to play against. He’s left-handed and he has a big first serve and he can hit angles, comes to the net, so very strong physically, moves well. But I was very solid…. It was a good performance.”

No. 6 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic was upset by No. 12 Milos Raonic of Canada, 6-4, 7-6 (7). That puts Raonic in the quarterfinals against Gael Monfils of France, who beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.

Williams advances

No. 1 seed Serena Williams defeated No. 5 Simona Halep of Romania, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals. They had been scheduled to play in last year’s semifinals, but Williams withdrew because of an injury. Halep beat Jelena Jankovic for the title, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

“It feels really good to get the win. She’s been in good form for the last couple years,” Williams said.

Williams’ semifinal opponent will be No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who defeated No. 8 Petra Kvitova, 6-2, 7-6 (3). It will be the fourth straight semifinal appearance this season for Radwanska, who will pass Angelique Kerber to become No. 2 in the world rankings. “The goal is to win, but it’s not gonna be easy, that’s for sure,” Radwanska said.

Williams last faced Radwanska in the semifinals of the Australian Open and won, 6-0, 6-4. The key to her success in that instance, Williams said, was “being aggressive and going for it and keeping my errors down.”

Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen