Danish Delight In Desert As Rune Stops Tsitsipas At Indian Wells

Holger Rune
Holger Rune (photo: ATP Tour video)

INDIAN WELLS/WASHINGTON, March 12, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Fourth round action began Tuesday at the ATP Masters 1000 BNP Paribas Open in the California palm desert. While several afternoon rain interruptions curtailed action in the early going and, later, backed up play well into the night – including a rematch of one of last year’s semifinals between World No. 6 Daniil Medvedev of Russia and World No. 11 Tommy Paul of the United States – it was World No. 13 Holger Rune, who gave a superb performance on Stadium 1 in garnering a 6-4, 6-4 victory over World No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas, ending the Greek star’s seven-match winning streak.

During their one-hour, 28-minute round of 16 match Tuesday afternoon before the worst of the rain fell, Rune converted three of five break-point opportunities while saving five of six break points against Tsitsipas. It added up to Rune playing – arguably – his best tennis match of the season. He even hit a tweener lob for good measure late in the second set, which drew tremendous applause from the Indian Wells tennis fans that filled the stands on a cloudy, damp day.

Coming in, Tsitsipas aimed to become the fourth active player to reach 25 ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals and to record his first Top-20 win since the Paris Olympics last summer. However, Rune had other plans. The 21-year-old Dane put on an outstanding display of tennis from start to finish that was punctuated throughout with aggressive hitting. By the end, Rune had earned his first Top-10 win on an outdoor hard court by striking 22 winners and outpointing his opponent 67-52.

“I think it was an extremely good match from my side from start to finish,” Rune said during his on-court interview, after improving to 4-0 lifetime against Tsitsipas. “I stayed very committed on my game plan and mentally I was very good. I think that made the difference, how composed I could start. Because Stef is back in shape, I think it is fair to say. It was a cool battle.”

The victory advanced Rune into his ninth ATP Masters 1000 last eight – and he’s the first Scandinavian to reach back-to-back Indian Wells quarterfinals since Stefan Edberg of Sweden in 1994-95.

History-making day at Indian Wells for Griekspoor

The day began with Dutch No. 1 Tallon Griekspoor continuing his Indian Wells run of good form. After upsetting World No. 2 and top seed Alexander Zverev over the weekend, the 43rd-ranked Griekspoor reached his 19th ATP Tour quarterfinal – first at an ATP Masters 1000 level – with his 7-6 (4), 6-1 defeat of 349th-ranked Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki to set up a quarterfinal battle with Rune.

Although the Griekspoor-Watanuki match on Stadium 2 stretched over three hours due to multiple rain interruptions, Griekspoor took care of matters in a business-like 86 minutes, in which he won 81 percent of his first-serve points, hit 14 winners to just 11 unforced errors, saved the only break point he faced, and converting two of four chances against the free-spirited, Pepsi-sipping Watanuki. Griekspoor outpointed his opponent 69-46.

During his on-court interview, Griekspoor spoke of the importance of reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal. “That means a lot,” he said. “It’s never easy to get back playing after such a good win [Top-5 against Zverev]. At the same time, I felt it was about time that win was coming. I got a lot of confidence from it. I’ve played two very good matches – against a tricky opponent today. I’ve seen him play all week. Unbelievable shot making, such a great mover. I’m very happy with how I handled it today. Tricky conditions on and off. Just very proud of myself.”

With his victory, Griekspoor became just the fifth Dutch quarterfinalist in Indian Wells history – and the first since Sjeng Schalken in 2000.

Giron-Fils, Medvedev-Paul learn virtue of patience on a rainy day

Later, 48th-ranked Marcos Giron of the United States sought his 25th ATP Tour quarterfinal – first above ATP 500 level – after a successful start at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with victories over World No. 5 Casper Ruud of Norway in the second round and World No. 27 Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the third round.

On Tuesday evening, Giron fell to World No. 21 Arthur Fils of France 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. The 20-year-old Fils reached his first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal and has become the youngest French quarterfinalist at Indian Wells since Fabrice Santoro in 1993.

The two competitors played for nine minutes before rain suspended the match at 1-all, 30-all, for three hours and five minutes. They resumed at 7:10 p.m. local time. Fils outpointed Giron 90-79. He is the second man born in 2004 or later to reach the quarterfinals at a Masters 1000 after Czechia’s Jakub Mensik at Shanghai last October.

During his post-match news conference, Fils said he was proud of his effort. “I’m just fighting, trying to find a way during every match. For now, it’s working, so pretty happy about it.”

Finally, the Medvedev-Paul tussle took Stadium 1 nearly four hours past its originally scheduled “not before 6 p.m. start time,” thanks to the numerous weather delays. Although Medvedev came into their fifth and latest meeting leading their series 3-1, Paul prevailed in their latest skirmish last year in Rome.

Paul, one of five American men through to the last 16 – most since 2004 – aimed to become the sixth American man to reach back-to-back Indian Wells quarterfinals this century. Meanwhile, Medvedev looked to continue his quest to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only players to win all six current ATP Masters 1000 hard-court titles.

As it happened, Medvedev won 6-4, 6-0 in one hour and 14 minutes. He captured the first four and the last eight games against Paul, converted six of eight break points, and outpointed him 62-44.

“I’m happy with my game. It’s not easy to play here,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “Breaks of serve — of course we still win more serves than we we lose — but breaks of serves don’t mean much here. So even when he came back in the first, I was like, ‘Try pushing, try going further.’ I managed to raise my level during the match, so I’m pretty happy about it.”

Around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz has cruised into the fourth round without dropping a set. After the World No. 3 and second seed swept past France’s Quentin Halys, 6-4, 6-2, over the weekend in his opening-round match, Alcaraz took down No. 27 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada, 6-2, 6-4, Monday night on Stadium 1 to advance to the round of 16.

Alcaraz has won 14 straight matches in the California palm desert. Against a resurgent Shapovalov, who recently won the Dallas Open, the 21-year-old Spaniard hit 15 winners, converted four of eight break-point opportunities and outpointed the Canadian 67-55. He’s defeated Shapovalov both times they’ve faced each other.

“I know he started the season really strong, showing really good tennis with the title in Dallas, playing good tennis in Acapulco. So, I knew that I had to start the match really strong, really focused on my things, on the level,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview. “Try to play good tennis, good rallies at the beginning just to get the good pace, to come into the match. I saw that it was going to be a really good and difficult battle, so just really happy with the way I started the match.”

Now 13-2 this season, Alcaraz’s next opponent will be World No. 15 and 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who battled through a thumb injury and advanced by winning a three-hour, one-minute thriller over No. 42 Gaël Monfils of France, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (2), on Stadium 2 Monday night that ended at 11:39 p.m. local time. While Alcaraz leads to head-to-head series 3-2, Dimitrov has won their past two meetings, both at ATP Masters 1000 level (Shanghai in 2023 and Miami last year).

Tuesday’s BNP Paribas Open results

Wednesday’s BNP Paribas Open order of play

By the numbers

Grigor Dimitrov‘s victory over Gaël Monfils Monday night was his 146th at Masters 1000 level in his career. He surpassed John Isner at 11th place for most match wins since the series’ introduction in 1990. Rafael Nadal is the ATP Masters 1000 career wins leader with 410, followed by Novak Djokovic with 409. Dimitrov needs 11 more Masters 1000 victories to tie Andy Roddick for 10th place at 157.

“Quotable …”

“I just had to be able to grind it out. For me, [Karen] is a really tough opponent, who does so many things well. I gave myself break chances and it seemed every single time he came up with a serve that clocked the line, came up with the plays. For me to executive the way that I did – in the end to get those two breaks, a break back and then to get the break in the second, and close it out down break points – is pretty confidence-building for me. Moving forward, I think it’s great when you’re battle tested. I didn’t have to go to a third set today. Being down a break and coming through in the big moments is what I love about this sport and why I’m really happy about this win.”

– No. 11 seed Ben Shelton of the United States, during his on-court interview Monday evening after defeating No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, 6-3, 7-5, to advance to the fourth round against fellow American No. 32 seed Brandon Nakashima.

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