Casper Ruud boosted his chances to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals with a 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 win over Lloyd Harris after 2 hours and 53 minutes. The Norwegian player saved all eight break points he faced to reach the fourth round.
Ruud claimed his fifth ATP Tour title in San Diego and his first on hard court to move eighth in the ATP Race to Turin with 2925 points, 150 points ahead of Hubert Hurkacz.
Ruud saved a total of three break points in the first set before losing the tie-break 7-4. Ruud fended off five break points in the fourth game before earning his first break in the ninth game to win the second set 6-4. Ruud converted his third break point in the fourth game to win the third set 6-4.
“It was a very tough match and I was fortunate to get through in the end. There were only some points here and there that decided this match. I saved a lot of break points and in crucial points I stepped up my game. It was frustrating because Lloyd was playing well and I was not really feeling the groove like I felt in the first match and in the end I was fortunate to get through.
Diego Schwartzman came back from a set a 2-4 down to beat Daniel Evans 5-7 6-4 6-0 after 2 hours and 21 minutes to advance to the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time in his career.
Schwartzman has extended his lead over Evans to 2-0 in their head-to-head matches after beating the British player in Cincinnati last August.
Schwartzman went up a 5-2 lead in the first set before Evans reeled off five consecutive games. Evans took a 4-2 lead, but Schwartzman came back by winning four consecutive games to win the second set 6-4. The Argentine took a bagel win with three breaks.
Grigor Dimitrov beat Reilly Opelka 6-3 6-4 after 74 minutes with one break in each set. Dimittov beat Aslan Karatsev in San Diego to reach his first ATP Tour semifinal of the season and he has not dropped a set in his first two matches in Indian Wells. The 30-year-year-old Bulgarian player has never gone beyond the third round in his previous seven appearances in Indian Wells.
Dimitrov set up a fourth round match against either 2021 US Open champion Danil Medvedev or this year’s Hamburg finalist Filip Krajnovic.
