Qualifier Christian Garin beat third seed Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) to reach the fourth round in Indian Wells on Sunday as Daniil Medvedev and Cameron Norrie survived a scare.
Garin’s aggressive play paid off as the 97th-ranked Chilean dispatched world number four Ruud in just over two hours.
“I’m very happy with the way I played today,” said the 26-year-old Garin. “I was aggressive throughout the match.”
His 39 winners were too many for Ruud, the two-time Grand Slam finalist last year, who hoped a quick win over Diego Schwartzman in his second-round opener would mark a turnaround in a season where he was eliminated from the second round. Didn’t move forward. in three prior tournaments.
Meanwhile, long frustrated by slow hard courts in the California desert, Medvedev managed to extend his ATP winning streak to 16 matches with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over 85th-ranked Ilya Ivashka. Achieved success
Medvedev, coming off the back of three straight titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, said victory was a matter of “a few points” but went on to improve on his previous best Indian Wells performance to keep him on track – in Round 2021 Out of 16.
Medvedev said, “It’s hard to do anything during rallies, so just see who puts more balls in the court. If you lose a little momentum, you lose a set.” Second set.
She complained to the referee that she would be “as slow as the court” in taking bathroom breaks, but pulled herself together to take a 5–0 lead in the third, serving after Ivashka had saved three match points. final match.
Medvedev said, “I can’t say I played better in the third, but (I) managed not to miss after 25 shots.”
Zverev, who ended his 2022 campaign at the French Open after tearing ankle ligaments, said the same after a 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 win over Finland’s Emil Rusuvuori.
Zverev said, “To be honest, I think he played better than me in the whole match.” “It is like that sometimes, one or two points can decide the match.”
Tenth seed Nori, who reached the final in Buenos Aires and won the trophy in Rio de Janeiro last month, took a set before rallying for 6-7 (5/7), 7- and 4- over Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel. Lost by 1. -5, 6-2 win.
The Chilean, another qualifier, reached the fourth round with Garin defeating Alejandro Tabillo 6–3, 7–6 (8/6) over unseeded Jordan Thompson, who had beaten second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
Tabillo set up a meeting with American Frances Tiafoe, who beat Australian Jason Kubler 6–3, 6–2.
– Sabalenka wins by walkover –
On the women’s side of the joint WTA and ATP Masters 1000 event, second-seeded Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus advanced on a walkover after Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko pulled out of her scheduled match.
Surenko has now lost nine of the 18 tournaments at Indian Wells last year by retirement or walkover.
Third seed American Jessica Pegula made a comeback to beat Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
“It was definitely a fight today,” said Pegula, who came back from a set down in her second-round win over Camila Giorgi. “She definitely came out hitting her shots and painting lines and going after him.
“So I’m glad I was able to get back into the match and ended up playing much better than the way I started.”
Sixth seed Coco Gauff of America defeated Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-3.
But last year’s runner-up, Maria Sakkari, needed two and a half hours to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 – Sakkari’s second straight come-from-behind victory.
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