Jannik Sinner shines; Swiatek crushes Collins

Indian Wells: Jannik Sinner crushed Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-0 to reach the third round of Indian Wells and extend his winning streak this season to 13 matches, while Andy Murray fell to Andrey Rublev 7-6(3), 6-1.

Sizzling Sinner stayed hot on centre court under sunny but breezy skies in the California desert, fighting off a break point at 2-2 in the opening set with a forehand winner and breaking serve for a 5-3 advantage.

After capturing the first set the Australian Open champion never looked back, losing just five points across the second set to book a third-round meeting with either 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff or Croatian Borna Coric.

Despite winning 26 of his past 27 matches, Sinner insisted he is not invincible.

Rublev piled up the errors in the opening set against the veteran Scot player and was forced to save four set points while his opponent enjoyed the support of the crowd on Stadium 2.

But the Russian cleaned up his game and found his range with the forehand to roll through the second set and book a meeting with either either American wild card Brandon Nakashima or Czech 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka in the third round.

World number two Carlos Alcaraz got off to a stuttering start in his title defence but turned the tables to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5/7), 6-0, 6-1.

The second-round success served as a welcome fitness test for the 20-year-old Spaniard, who rolled his ankle a fortnight ago in Rio and retired from his first-round match there.

Alcaraz gathered his forces after dropping the opening set against Arnaldi, cutting his unforced error count from 23 in the first set to a mere eight for the remainder of the contest.

The reigning Wimbledon champion lost just one more game as he came through in two and a quarter hours, concluding with 22 winners.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova also advanced with ease, beating American Bernarda Pera with the loss of just two games. Vondrousova took just 64 minutes to dispatch Pera 6-0, 6-2.

Australian Christopher O’Connell was defeated 6-4 6-4 by sixth-seeded German Alexander Zverev, while French qualifier Lucas Pouille was upset 6-3 6-2 by 11th-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Alex de Minaur, the 10th seed coming off a triumph in Acapulco at the weekend, regained some Aussie pride as he crushed Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-2.

World number one Iga Swiatek blasted past American Danielle Collins 6-3, 6-0 and Angelique Kerber upset 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko in second round action at Indian Wells on Friday.

Swiatek edged Collins in an epic at the Australian Open and the familiar foes appeared primed for another blockbuster when they were on serve with the Pole leading 4-3 in the first set.

But Swiatek raised her level from there, breaking to love for 5-3 and winning the final nine games to advance at the tournament she won in 2022.

"I started to make a few less mistakes, which gave Danielle a chance to make a few more," Swiatek said.

"It's a small difference but at the end, I was ready to play well in those important moments, on break points and stuff like that. I'm happy I kept my focus and stayed with my game, no matter what Danielle was doing on the other side of the net."

Collins in January said she would retire at the end of the season so this is expected to be the 30-year-old's final appearance at Indian Wells.

The American beat Swiatek decisively to reach the Australian Open final in 2022 and achieved a career high ranking of world number seven.

Kerber scored her biggest win in three years with an impressive 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory over hard-hitting Latvian Ostapenko.

The German, who returned to the tour in January after 18 months on maternity leave, fired an unreturnable serve on match point to seal her first win over a top 10 opponent since November 2021.

Angelique Kerber lifted the tempo of her maternity return as she upset fellow Grand Slam winner Jelena Ostapenko in a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Agencies

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