Ajla Tomljanovic has avoided the carnage caused by strong winds at the WTA Tour 1000 event in Indian Wells, which claimed top seed Karolina Pliskova and defending champion Bianca Andreescu.

Tomljanovic fought back from being two service breaks down to start the match against Tamara Zidansek to power her way to a 6-4 6-3 victory.

From trailing 4-0 in the opening set, the Australian world No.47 reeled off the next nine games to take control of a match that was at time at the mercy of the conditions, as both players battled to hold serve.

Tomljanovic broke the serve of Slovakian 26th seed Zidansek on seven occasions to advance to a showdown with former world No.1 Angelique Kerber - who holds 2-0 head-to-head advantage.

"It doesn't matter against who I'm playing," Kerber said after her win over Daria Kasatkina.

"It's more about how I feel, that I'm ready for every point, that I play my game like in the last few months and few weeks, so this is more my goal."

The biggest upset of the day in the California desert 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.

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.

Kerber, the 10th seed, overcame Kasatkina 6-2 1-6 6-4 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 meeting.

with Reuters