Fernandez, the U.S. Open runner-up, fought off a break point
in the eighth game of the third set for a 5-3 lead. Pavlyuchenkova held to
trail 5-4 before Fernandez served out the match in which she trailed a set and
a break.
Fernandez is winning in doubles, too. She and partner Coco
Gauff have reached the quarterfinals.
Iga Swiatek routed 25th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 6-1,
6-0. Swiatek has dropped just five games in two matches during her first visit
to the combined ATP and WTA tour event. She needed just 54 minutes to get by
Kudermetova on the first anniversary of the Polish player winning the French
Open.
Swiatek, seeded second, won 28 of her 33 service points, hit
19 winners and made just seven unforced errors.
“I was just feeling pretty confident,” she said. “But
basically, I wanted to make a gift for my psychologist because usually when I
lose there is some drama, so let’s just say she has the day off today.”
Two-time major champion Murray beat 18-year-old Carlos
Alcarez 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round for the first time since 2016.
The 34-year-old Scotsman got into the tournament as a wild card. Alcarez hit 36
winners to 18 for Murray.
“I felt like in the second set he played maybe better,”
Murray said. “First set I felt like I had more of the opportunities but didn’t
get it so yeah, happy with the way I fought. He’s a top-drawer young player.”
Aliaksandra Sasnovich continued her roll, beating
11th-seeded and 2015 winner Simona Halep 7-5, 6-4. It was Sasnovich’s second
straight upset of a former major champion. She took out U.S. Open winner Emma
Raducanu in her second match at Indian Wells. Sasnovich has won three straight
main-draw matches for the first time since 2019.
Also advancing was No. 4 Elina Svitolina, who beat
32nd-seeded Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 6-4 7-6 (3). Americans Shelby Rogers and
Jessica Pegula advanced to the round of 16 with straight-set wins.
Also on the men’s side, No. 5 seed Matteo Berrettini
defeated Alejandro Tabilbo 6-5, 7-5 in his opening match. He’ll next face
31st-seeded Taylor Fritz, who beat Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-4 in an all-American
match-up.
Berrettini, who owns two titles this year, won for the first
time in his third appearance at Indian Wells.
“I love the conditions here, the place, it’s amazing,” he
said. “I didn’t know Alejandro that well. He played three matches here so he
was feeling confident. He believed that he could win and I felt it, so it was
even tougher to beat him.”
No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime lost to Albert Ramos-Vinolas
6-4, 6-2.
No. 10 Jannik Sinner, who won the title in Sofia last week,
beat John Millman 6-2, 6-2. No. 14 Gaels Monfils defeated Gianluca Mager 6-4,
6-2.
Kevin Anderson edged 17th-seeded Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (7), 7-6
(3).
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