The final round of qualifying at Indian Wells tuned into a good day for Americans, as five Americans progressed to the main draw. There was however disappointment for young Russian Andrey Rublev, who misses out after defeat.
The top section saw the top seed Yuichi Sugita surprised by the in-form Renzo Olivo (17), who won 6-4, 6-2. Second seed Austin Krajicek also failed to escape qualifying, as he was defeated by Frenchman Vincent Millot 6-3, 6-4.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert was the highest seed (3) to progress, as he defeated Mischa Zverev (14) 6-3, 7-6 in a battle of big servers. Michael Berrer (4) may have been seeded higher than Andrey Rublev (14) but the Russian may have been the favourite, having just taken his first Challenger title last week. Berrer eased past him 6-3, 6-2.
(5) Tim Smyczek again pulled off a Houdini act, as he recovered from the loss of the first set against Tommy Paul (24), winning a third set that featured five breaks of serve 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Smyczek had won a tight first round match against Michael Mmoh.
(18) Ryan Harrison took full advantage of Jason Jung’s excellent win against John-Patrick Smith in the earlier round, defeating Jung 6-4, 7-6 to make the main draw.
A pair of surprise names in Peter Polansky and Marcelo Arevalo featured in the next section, with the Canadian Polansky winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
(20) Jozef Kovalik defeated Giovanni Lapentti 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to feature in the main draw of Indian Wells for the first time.
(21) Marco Trungelliti has mirrored the achievements of compatriot Renzo Olivo at many events this year, most notably the Australian Open, and he will also feature in the main draw after he edged French veteran Edouard Roger-Vasselin (9) 7-6, 6-4.
(19) Alexander Sarkissian edged fellow American Mitchell Krueger 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, before (11) Bjorn Fratangelo beat veteran Czech star Radek Stepanek (15) 6-3, 6-2.
(23) Noah Rubin completed the bracket with a 6-3, 7-5 win against (12) Dennis Novikov.
The winners will now be entered into the main draw, with the losers waiting to see if they may be awarded lucky loser positions.
Qualifiers opponents in main draw.
(Q) Bjorn Fratangelo vs Teymuraz Gabashvili
(Q) Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs (Q) Jozef Kovalik
(Q) Michael Berrer vs Juan Monaco
(Q) Vincent Millot vs (WC) Mackenzie McDonald
(Q) Peter Polansky vs Fernando Verdasco
John Millman vs (Q) Alexander Sarkissian
Nicolas Mahut vs (Q) Renzo Olivo
(Q) Ryan Harrison vs Dusan Lajovic
Andrey Kuznetsov vs (Q) Marco Trungelliti
(Q) Tim Smyczek vs (WC) Juan Martin Del Potro
Rajeev Ram vs (Q) Noah Rubin
