In-form Norrie into last 16 at Indian Wells as Evans exits

Cameron Norrie continued his excellent run of form as he sunk Roberto Bautista Agut to book his place in the last 16 of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The British No 2 came on strong in the final set to triumph 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 and book a meeting with American Tommy Paul.

Norrie's win came just hours after compatriot Dan Evans collapsed to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 defeat to Diego Schwartzman.

Norrie's victory extended his strong hard-court run which also saw him reach the final in San Diego earlier this month, beating Evans along the way. And it heaped further misery on the Spaniard, the 2019 Wimbledon semi-finalist, whom Norrie famously beat in five sets on his Davis Cup debut in 2018. That marked Norrie's first professional season but few expected the surge into the world's top 30 that would follow.

In an edgy encounter, Norrie, 26, was broken four times and saved 10 more break point opportunities, but pressured his opponent's serve throughout and broke six times to seal victory and set up a clash with Paul.

British No 1 Evans, however, ran out of gas as he blew a set and a break advantage against world No 15 Schwartzman.

The Argentine looked all-but beaten after losing the opening set and trailing 3-1 and 4-2 in the second before turning it around to dent Evans' hopes of climbing into the ATP'S top 20.

Evans had reeled off five games in a row to take the first set 7-5, then broke to lead 2-0 at the start of the second. But two unforced errors from the Briton, who had come from behind to beat Kei Nishikori in the previous round, allowed Schwartzman to break back to level at 4-4.

Evans failed to cash in on two more break points and that was the beginning of the end as Schwartzman reeled off all the remaining games to seal victory.

Top seed Daniil Medvedev withstood a late fightback by Filip Krajinovic to reach the fourth round. The newlycrowned US Open champion was also forced to overcome a lengthy rain delay before posting a 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory to set up a last-16 clash with Grigor Dimitrov.

Medvedev had looked set for an early night as he surged into a 4-0 lead and proceeded to take the first set with the minimum of fuss. But he was given pause for thought as the Serbian broke twice in succession to establish a 4-2 lead in the second set, before Medvedev rallied to wrap up victory.

Former world No 3 Dimitrov toppled American 16th seed Reilly Opelka 6-3, 6-4 to earn his crack at Medvedev.

Paul extended his superb run at the tournament as he overcame fourth seed Andrey Rublev to reach the last 16. The world No 60 held his nerve to win 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and book a meeting in the next round with Norrie.

Sixth seed Casper Ruud, who sunk Norrie in San Diego, will play Schwartzman in the round of 16 after hitting back to beat South Africa's Lloyd Harris 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4. Norwegian Ruud saved all eight break points against him to outlast Harris in nearly three hours and extend his winning run to nine matches.