Sinner, Swiatek steam ahead, Murray out
INDIAN WELLS, California: Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek led the charge into the third round of the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters with identical runaway scorelines on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
But there was no joy for former No. 1 Andy Murray, who suffered a 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 loss to fifth seed Andrey Rublev to exit the event where he lost the 2009 final to Rafael
Nadal.
Australian
Open champion Sinner dominated Thanasi Kokkinakis, 6-3, 6-0, while women’s world No. 1 Swiatek did the same to American Danielle Collins.
Italy’s Sinner, seeded third, backed up his debut Grand Slam title in Melbourne with a victory in the ATP 500 level tournament at Rotterdam last month.
He remains undefeated this season and completed a 13th consecutive match victory while improving to 4-0 over Kokkinakis.
Sinner has won his last 15 meetings with Aussie opponents, last losing to one three years ago in Toronto.
Swiatek, the 2022 Indian Wells champion and last year’s Roland Garros winner who will start her 94th week on the top WTA ranking on Monday, broke Collins four times and wrapped up victory on her second match point.
“I’m happy I started the tournament well,” the Polish star said. “First rounds are never easy.
“Danielle hits the ball hard, I’m happy I went through. I wanted to be ready for anything, I didn’t give her a chance, the small differences matter a lot.”
But Elena Rybakina’s title defense ended without a ball struck as she withdrew before her scheduled opener with a gastrointestinal issue.
Sinner said both he and Kokkinakis had to deal with the variable desert wind in their early match.
After advancing in 80 minutes, with 21 winners and just seven unforced errors, the Italian was pleased but far from overconfident.
Alex de Minaur, the 10th seed coming off a triumph in Acapulco over the weekend, regained some Aussie pride as he crushed Japan’s Taro Daniel, 6-1, 6-2.