INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- The headlines two days ago in a local newspaper said the state of California will be out of water in a year, which made the few sprinkles that peppered the Simona Halep-Carla Suarez Navarro match newsworthy. The rain lasted all of 40 seconds, even though the Doppler showed "activity" directly over the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. So, we learned that technology can be fallible. Here are five other things we learned from Indian Wells.
1. Kei KO'd
After playing with fire in his previous match against hard-serving left-hander Fernando Verdasco, losing the first set and surviving a third, fifth-seed Kei Nishikori was not so lucky against another hard-serving, left-handed Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez. Lopez took out Nishikori 6-4, 7-6 (2), dropping 12 aces on Nishikori, who played a little too fast, a little too recklessly, never getting a real feel for Lopez's serve. Lopez won 58 percent of his second-serve points, which on top of the 12 aces spelled bad news for Nishikori. The 33-year-old Lopez reached the quarterfinals for the first time at Indian Wells and avenged losing to Nishikori on clay last year in Madrid.
2. Simona Halep reaches the semifinals
The same year Sloane Stephens was being touted as the next big thing, Simona Halep won six titles. Halep is now ranked third in the world, lost to Maria Sharapova in the French Open final last year and has continued to show that she was not just on a hot streak. She lost the first set Wednesday to Carla Suarez-Navarro 7-5, couldn't control the ball and needed a talk with her coach. The result was Halep winning the next two sets 6-1, 6-1.
3. A semifinal rematch awaits
The past two times Serena Williams and Simona Halep met were in Singapore, at the WTA year-end championships. In the round-robin, Halep destroyed Williams (this is not a misprint) 6-0, 6-2. They would meet days later in the final, and Williams returned the favor 6-3, 6-0. They will meet in the semifinal Friday after Williams put away the emerging Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3. A world No. 1 vs. world No. 3 semifinal is worth the price of admission.
4. Odesnik banned 15 years
American Wayne Odesnik was hit with a 15-year ban by the International Tennis Federation for his second doping violation. In 2010, Odesnik was banned two years for transporting human growth hormone into Australia and became one of the more disliked players on tour for cooperating with ITF officials in return for having his ban cut to one year. In 2013, Odesnik, along with several baseball players, including Alex Rodriguez, were named in the Biogenesis scandal that led to Rodriguez's suspension for the entire 2014 season. In December, Odesnik tested positive in an out-of-competition test, which led to his ban Wednesday. He announced his retirement later that day.
"Obviously, if it happens twice, you don't deserve to be on the tour," said world No. 3 Rafael Nadal after defeating Gilles Simon. World No. 4 Andy Murray was far more pointed, tweeting "Bye Bye, Wayne ... Good riddance."
"I think it's probably deserved, as well," Murray said after reaching the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Adrian Mannarino. "After what happened the last time, you know, whatever story you believe, the one that was given, I don't believe at all. Yeah, I think it's good for tennis to get him off the tour and away from the tour, because we don't want that being part of the tour."
5. Meet the new boss (same as the old boss)
Bernard Tomic, Lopez and Milos Raonic are the new faces into the quarters, but the old guard is well represented: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych all reached the quarterfinals Wednesday, with another familiar face, defending champion Novak Djokovic joining them. Federer has won the tournament four times, Djokovic and Nadal three. Murray has been a runner-up and semifinalist once. A changing of the guard? Not so fast, at least not here.