Alcaraz powers into third round Swiatek rolls past Liu; Rybakina holds off Kenin

Indian Wells : Top seed Carlos Alcaraz powered past Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the third round of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters.

The Spaniard, ranked number two in the world, didn’t face a break point as he launched his bid for a third Masters 1000 title and a return to number one.

He needed just one hour and 16 minutes to get past Kokkinakis, ranked 94th in the world, and line up a meeting with Tallon Griekspoor, the number 31 seed from the Netherlands who beat Argentina’s Guido Pella 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4).

Defending champion Taylor Fritz overcame a stiff challenge from fellow American young gun Ben Shelton to advance 4-6 6-4 6-3 into the third round.

Andy Murray enjoyed a rare straight-sets win over tournament lucky loser Radu Albot of Moldova 6-4 6-3 to set up an all-British third-round showdown with Jack Draper. The 21-year-old Draper beat countryman Dan Evans 6-4 6-2 earlier in the day.

In other men’s results, Italian 11th seed Jannik Sinner beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-3 7-6(2), eighth seed Felix Auger Aliassime of Canada was a 7-6(5) 6-4 winner over Spain’s Pedro Martinez and Swiss Stan Wawrinka beat 26th seed Czech Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(8) 6-4.

In women’s section, defending champion Iga Swiatek advanced with a comfortable 6-0, 6-1 victory over American Claire Liu.

The world No. 1 won the first 11 games of the match before easing to victory in just over an hour, the fifth time this season she’s dropped just one game in winning a match.

With Saturday’s victory, Swiatek improved to 13-3 in the 2023 season. Interestingly, all 13 of those wins have come in straight sets.

The top seed will next face 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in a battle of former Indian Wells champions. Swiatek won the only previous meeting with Andreescu, a 7-6(2), 6-0 win over the Canadian en route to the Rome title last year.

In other actions, Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina won the battle of major champions, edging Sofia Kenin in two tiebreaks to advance to the third round of the tournament.

The No.10-seeded Rybakina handed Kenin a 7-6(6), 7-6(5) loss to advance to Monday’s third round. There she’ll meet the winner of the match between No.21 Paula Badosa and Nuria Parrizas Diaz.

On the other hand, Ons Jabeur of Tunisia pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the second round, defeating Polish lucky loser Magdalena Frech 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Saturday night.

Saturday marked Tunisian’s first match since a second-round loss to Marketa Vondrousova at the Australian Open in January. Jabeur, the most accomplished Arab player of the Open Era, had to miss the entire Middle East swing after undergoing minor knee surgery. Jabeur, an Indian Wells semifinalist in 2021, now has a chance to exact some revenge in the third round, where she will face Vondrousova. Agencies

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