INDIAN WELLS/WASHINGTON, March 11, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
American No. 1 Taylor Fritz is just three years removed from capturing the biggest title of his career at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. This year, he’s taking nothing for granted.
During Monday afternoon’s third round, the No. 3 seed Fritz overcame a shaky beginning to pull out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 30 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in an hour and 54 minutes on Stadium 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in the California palm desert.
Rising to the occasion @Taylor_Fritz97 wins 10 of the last 11 games to d. Alejandro Tabilo 4-6 6-3 6-1 and return to the Round of 16.@BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/DABznEVw1r
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 10, 2025
Although Fritz committed 43 unforced errors to 32 winners against the left-handed-hitting Tabilo, during the final two sets he found his consistency and rhythm – especially on his serve – to remain undefeated (7-0) on Stadium 2. Once he stopped giving away so many free points, Fritz was able to turn the match around in his favor. It was his fourth career victory over Tabilo in four meetings – and second straight at Indian Wells.
“I just tried to cut down on the mistakes,” Fritz explained during his on-court interview. “I was making more random, no reason mistakes than I possibly could have thought. Even with me feeling like I was giving him a lot of free points, I still felt it was pretty close for the first set and a half. I knew I just had to clean it up and be more solid, raise my level a little bit.”
The World No. 4 Fritz has struggled to be at his best level in recent tournaments – falling in the early rounds at both Dallas and Delray Beach. Now, he will try to continue his run of good form at Indian Wells, which began with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 217th-ranked Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante over the weekend.
Against Tabilo, Fritz struck 12 aces and won 80 percent of his first-serve points. He converted five of nine break points while saving five of seven break points he faced from the 31st-ranked Chilean. Fritz outpointed Tabilo 94-75.
Another lefty, Draper, next for Fritz
Next, Fritz will face British lefty Jack Draper. After a sluggish start to his third-round match against 937th-ranked Jenson Brooksby of the United States, in which he trailed 1-4 in the opening set, the World No. 14 and 13th seed Draper defeated the American 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round at Indian Wells for the second time in his career. The victory improved Draper’s win-loss record against players ranked outside the Top 50 to 16-0 since last June.
Draper won 90 percent of his first-serve points, overcame 26 unforced errors to hit 21 winners and outpointed Brooksby 78-59. He converted three of five break points and took advantage of 32 unforced errors by his opponent.
Into the next round @jackdraper0 defeats Brooksby 7-5 6-4 to advance in the desert @BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/F71lmu8JVV
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 10, 2025
“Jenson is an unorthodox player, he makes life really difficult,” Draper said in his on-court interview, after winning for the ninth time in 11 outings this season. “He doesn’t make the rhythm easy. I got off to a slow start, I missed a couple of opportunities early on. But I’m glad of the way I fought and competed. Even though it wasn’t my best tennis today, I’m really happy with the way stayed in every point. I tried my best to stay cool.”
The former World No. 33 Brooksby, who was using his protected ranking to gain direct entry, had sought to become the lowest-ranked man to earn two Top-20 wins in one event since No. 1013 Darren Cahill at Indian Wells in 1994. However, with Draper’s latest win, the British No. 1 improved to 3-0 lifetime against Brooksby.
Milestone victory for de Minaur over Hurkacz
World No. 10 and ninth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia notched his 50th career ATP Masters 1000 victory Monday afternoon, a 6-4, 6-0 triumph over No. 21 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in 73 minutes, to advance to the fourth round.
De Minaur, who hit 10 winners to 12 unforced errors, converted all four of his break points and saved the only break point he faced from Hurkacz in earning his second win in three career meetings. He outpointed Hurkacz 57-35.
“Ultimately, you go out every single day and you’ve got different conditions, different days of how you’re feeling, how the ball is coming off your racquet. Today was very hot and very lively,” de Minaur said during his on-court interview. “I knew it wasn’t going to make very easy playing conditions. It’s all about playing tough, trying to make balls here and there, and I thought I applied a lot of pressure … I’m very happy with my performance today.”
Next, de Minaur will face No. 25 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, who ended the run of 85th-ranked Dutch lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 41 minutes. Van de Zandschulp had advanced to the third round with earlier wins over Nick Kyrgios of Australia and World No. 7 and sixth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
• Also advancing to the fourth round were Americans Ben Shelton and Brandon Nakashima.
The World No. 33 and 32nd seed Nakashima defeated No. 35 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, 6-2, 6-4, in 74 minutes to reach the round of 16 at the hard-court event for the first time. His next opponent will be World No. 12 and 11th seed Shelton, who eliminated No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, 6-3, 7-5, in an hour and 35 minutes in back of 31 winners. Shelton outpointed Khachanov 74-64 to reach back-to-back Indian Wells fourth rounds.
Showtime in the desert @BenShelton defeats Khachanov 6-3 7-5 to make back-to-back Indian Wells fourth rounds.@BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/JnlfRlk4ht
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 11, 2025
Murray plays in his 1,000th tour-level doubles match
Great Britain’s Jamie Murray played in the 1,000th tour-level doubles match of his career Monday afternoon – and won. The 39-year-old Murray became the first Briton and only the second active player, joining Marcelo Melo of Brazil, to achieve the milestone.
Murray teamed with Adam Pavlasek of Czechia to defeat Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Robert Galloway of the United States, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 12-10 to advance to the second round.
“It is something I’m proud of and I think it shows longevity, being able to play on the Tour for that long and still be going,” Murray said, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “I had zero awareness of it, to be honest, until Dubai actually, and someone asked me how many matches I’ve played. I thought I’d only played like 800, so that was kind of a pleasant surprise.”
Around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden
• Two-time palm desert champion Iga Swiatek of Poland is riding an eight-match Indian Wells winning streak, in which she’s won all 16 sets over that span. After defeating Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, 6-0, 6-2, on Sunday – winning the first 10 games of the match – Swiatek is already through to the round of 16 against Czech Karolina Muchova on Tuesday.
“I know that I’m in a good place and going the right way,” Swiatek said during her post-match news conference Sunday.
• On Monday, the women’s headliners included two Top-5 Americans: World No. 3 Coco Gauff (the No. 3 seed) and World No. 5 Madison Keys (seeded fifth).
With her victory over No. 29 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece, Gauff became the youngest player to reach the round of 16 in three consecutive years in the Indian Wells women’s singles draw since Caroline Wozniacki between 2008-11. It took Gauff six match points but she finally got over the finish line to win, 7-6 (1), 6-2, in an hour and 35 minutes.
With her victory in the previous round, Gauff broke a three-match losing streak at WTA Tour level – her longest since losing five consecutive matches at the end of the 2022 season. Against Sakkari, Gauff overcame nine double faults and 31 unforced errors to hit 10 winners and outpointed her opponent 77-57.
Asked during her on-court interview what she would take away from her match with the Greek star, Gauff said: “Just the resilience. Today, the conditions were tough – the balls were moving a lot. Overall, it was better than the previous match. I’m just trying to keep getting better as each round goes and [after losing to Maria in the semifinals last year] it was nice to get some revenge today, even though I love her.”
Later, during her news conference, Gauff spoke of the tricky court conditions – the 79-degree Fahrenheit heat coupled with occasional gusts of wind: “I think we were both struggling a little bit with finding the rhythm, and I was just trying to stay solid on my end of the court.”
Meanwhile, Keys, it should be noted, has not lost a match since her first tournament of the year in Auckland. After she swept titles in Adelaide and Melbourne, Keys has extended her win streak to 14 matches – longest active win streak on tour. In her Stadium 2 match against No. 28 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, Keys was at times her own worst enemy. That’s because she was unable to convert multiple match points while serving ahead, 6-2, 5-3. Later, Mertens saved two additional match points during a second-set tie-break at 6-5 and 7-6, after Keys suffered her eighth double fault. The Belgian won the tie-break 10-8 with her first ace to force a decider.
However, Keys finally closed out the victory on her sixth match point after two hours and 48 minutes, 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-4. It was her WTA-tying 16th victory of the 2025 season and the fourth time in six meetings she’s defeated Mertens. She overcame 12 double faults and 48 unforced errors to hit five aces and 49 winners, and converted six of 16 break-point opportunities against Mertens. Keys outpointed her opponent 128-123.
“Definitely, it’s tough when you’re not playing your best tennis against someone who is really tricky and you’ve had some tough matches against in the past,” Keys said in her on-court interview. “Definitely, it was kind of frustrating out there today. There were ups and downs but to be able to figure it out and get the win is all it takes sometimes. It’s just about surviving.”
• Also advancing to the fourth round were: World No. 1 and top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who defeated No. 62 Lucia Bronzetti of Italy, 6-1, 6-2; No. 24 seed Liudmila Samsonova upset fellow Russian and 12th seed Daria Kasatkina, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; 58th-ranked Swiss wild card Belinda Bencic, who upset No. 13 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia, 6-4, 6-4; and 83rd-ranked British lucky loser Sonay Kartal, who defeated No. 60 Polina Kudermetova of Russia, 7-5, 6-3.
Monday’s BNP Paribas Open results
Tuesday’s BNP Paribas Open order of play
By the numbers
After his stunning win over No. 20 Tomas Machac in the second round, 349th-ranked Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki became the lowest-ranked man to record two Top 20 wins in one event since 2009 when he defeated No. 17 Frances Tiafoe, 6-4, 7-6 (6), Sunday night. The last to achieve the feat was No. 467 Taylor Dent, who earned wins over No. 20 Nicolas Almagro and No. 16 Tommy Robredo to reach the 2009 ATP Masters 1000 Miami fourth round. Now, the 26-year-old Watanuki is through to his first ATP Masters 1000 fourth round.
Watanuki is also the lowest-ranked man to reach the Indian Wells fourth round since tournament director Tommy Haas in 2004.
“Quotable …”
“It all came down to my taking my opportunities today. I played some very good points. I had opportunities on break points and that was the biggest difference. … The goal is every time I step out on the court to serve as good as I can, but also not to get discouraged or let it affect your tennis, the rest of your game. Whether I’m serving well or not, I’m going to make sure I’m competing from the very first point until the last one. It’s what helps me win tennis matches.”
– World No. 10 Alex de Minaur of Australia, during his on-court interview following his 6-4, 6-0 victory over No. 21 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland to advance to the fourth round.
