Gauff rallies, beats Bronzetti at BNP

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. — Coco Gauff gave herself an early birthday present by beating Lucia Bronzetti 6-2, 7-6 (5) on Monday in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Gauff, who turns 20 on Wednesday, struggled early but found a way to hold her serve by saving 10 of 11 break points. She closed out the match with a serve into the body that Bronzetti couldn’t return. It extended Gauff’s winning streak in the United States to 18 matches, a run that includes winning the title at last year’s U.S. Open.

Bronzetti had a chance to force a third set when she broke Gauff to take a 5-4 lead in the tiebreaker. Gauff won the next three points.

Gauff could end up facing Naomi Osaka in the round of 16. Osaka, the former World No. 1, is playing in the fifth tournament of her return after her maternity leave in 2023. She was facing Elise Mertens later Monday.

On the men’s side, Holger Rune played his first match of the tournament and beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 7-6 (5) to advance to the round of 16. Rune had a bye in the first round and advanced through the second when Milos Raonic withdrew with an injury.

The night matches included top seed Novak Djokovic taking on Luca Nardi and Daniil Medvedev facing American Sebastian Korda.

Late Sunday

Iga Swiatek avenged her Australian Open ouster at the hands of Linda Noskova, beating the Czech teenager 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open. Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz and third-seeded Jannik Sinner each advanced in straight sets in the men’s draw, but fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev lost to No. 32 seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-4.

Swiatek advanced to the round of 16, where the topranked Polish star will face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Putintseva beat Madison Keys 6-4, 6-1, part of a tough day for American singles players. Francis Tiafoe lost 6-3, 6-3 to Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Katie Volynets was eliminated by Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. The final American on the court, Ben Shelton, did manage a 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 victory over Francisco Cerundolo. Shelton won the decisive tiebreaker 7-5.