No.30 seed Marketa Vondrousova upset No.4 Anett Kontaveit 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday.   

Vondrousova, who won an Olympic silver medal for the Czech Republic in women's singles last year, was down a break at 4-2 in the third set before charging back to complete the comeback in 2 hours and 50 minutes. 

Challenging rivalry: Vondrousova, who now holds a 3-1 head-to-head advantage, won their first two meetings, including a first-round win at Wimbledon last year, but Kontaveit defeated the Czech en route to the Moscow title last season.

Vondrousova collected her first Top 10 win since her run to the Olympic final last year.

The 2019 Roland Garros finalist Vondrousova is now a win away from matching her career-best performance at Indian Wells. In 2019, she reached the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals, where she beat then-World No.2 Simona Halep in the Round of 16.

The loss is a stumbling block in Kontaveit's surge over the last year, which has propelled her into the Top 5. Kontaveit has advanced to the final at seven of her past 12 tournaments, winning five titles in that stretch.

Despite the loss, Kontaveit's 14 match-wins on tour this season is second only to Iga Swiatek's 16. Kontaveit reached the final at this year's first WTA 1000 event, finishing runner-up to Swiatek in Doha.

Read more: The best quotes from Week 1 in Indian Wells

Key plays: After dropping serve in the opening game of the match, Kontaveit turned the first set around, breaking Vondrousova twice to leap ahead 4-1 and powering to the one-set lead.

But Vondrousova hung tough with the Estonian in the second set as her deft drop shots and pristine passes kept her close. The Czech was rewarded at 6-5 when a Kontaveit double fault gave her triple set point, and Vondrousova converted the second of those to tie the match.

The third set was a returner's paradise with five straight breaks to start. Kontaveit stopped that run with stunning groundstrokes to hold for 4-2, but Vondrousova used her variety to break for 4-4. In that long game, Kontaveit saved three break points and had three game points, but Vondrousova prevailed.

The match came down to a tiebreak, and Vondrousova leveled up at 2-2, hitting three passing winners in a row to lead 5-2. A drop shot gave Vondrousova a 6-2 lead and four match points, and though the first three went begging, she converted her fourth to stun Kontaveit.

Kudermetova awaits: Vondrousova will next play No.21 seed Veronika Kudermetova for the first time in the Round of 16. Kudermetova advanced Monday after another Czech, Marie Bouzkova, retired from their third-round match due to a right ankle injury.

World No.24 Kudermetova had taken the first set over 97th-ranked Bouzkova 6-4. Bouzkova was leading 2-0 in the second set when she retired.

Kudermetova, who knocked out former champion Naomi Osaka in her previous match, made the Indian Wells third round in her tournament main-draw debut last season, and has now bettered that result by one round.

Rybakina ousts two-time champ Azarenka, will face Golubic in sweet 16

No.17 seed Elena Rybakina posted her first BNP Paribas Open Round-of-16 result, upending two-time champion and No.13 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 34 minutes.

"It was a tough match, but really happy that I won today," Rybakina said afterward. "Today my serve was really, really good. It helped me a lot."

In their first meeting, the 22-year-old was never broken by Azarenka, facing and erasing a single break point in the clash. Rybakina becomes the first woman representing Kazakhstan to make the last 16 at Indian Wells.

Highlights: Rybakina def. Azarenka

Former World No.1 Azarenka, who won Indian Wells titles in 2012 and 2016 and was a runner-up to Paula Badosa last season, was stunned by Rybakina's stellar serving day. Rybakina fired five aces and won 87 percent of points behind her first delivery.

Azarenka held her lone break point when she had a chance to take a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Rybakina swatted the opportunity away. After holding for 3-3 and avoiding that danger, Rybakina promptly broke serve in the very next game, which Azarenka ceded with a double fault.

Rybakina held on from there to grasp her second Top 20 win of the season and her 13th Top 20 win overall, moving into a Tuesday showdown with No.31 seed Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.

Like Vondrousova, Golubic had to stage a third-set comeback and prevail in a decisive tiebreak, edging past Jasmine Paolini of Italy 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(4) in two-and-a-half hours.

Paolini was up a break three separate times in the final set, including chances to serve out the match at 5-4 and 6-5. Each time, though, Golubic pulled back level, without ever facing a match point in the process.

Highlights: Golubic def. Paolini

Golubic won four of the last five points in the third-set tiebreak to grit out the win and move into the Indian Wells Round of 16 for the first time in her career.

Rybakina won their only previous meeting, a tight 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory in the 2019 Nanchang quarterfinals.

"For sure, tough match," Rybakina said, looking forward to another match against Golubic. "I have to focus on my serve because it's really a big weapon for me. Be physically ready, be patient. Here the conditions are slow. Rallies might be longer than you expect. So just be patient and try to fight and focus for every point."