Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-3 to advance to the fourth round on Stadium 2 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Tsitsipas converted on four of his six break points.
Tsitsipas earned his first top 20 win of the season to advance to the fourth round at Indian Wells for the second time. The Greek player remains at world number 11 in the ATP Live Ranking with 3170 points behind Australia’s Alex De Minaur (3210 points).
Tsitsipas broke serve in the second and sixth games to race out to a 5-1 lead in the opening set. Tiafoe pulled one break back in the seventh game for 2-5. Tsitsipas served it out on his first set point.
Tsitsipas broke serve at love in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Tiafoe earned a total of three break points in the fourth and eighth games, but he was not able to get the break back. Tsitsipas broke serve on his first match point in the ninth game to seal the second set 6-3.
Tsitsipas set up a second round match against this year’s Adelaide champion Jiri Lehecka, who upset fifth seed Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4 to clinch his third win against a top 10 player.
Lehecka earned an early break in the first game of the opening set to open up a 2-0 lead. Rublev saved a set point to hold serve at deuce as he was serving to stay in the set. Lehecka served out the first set 6-4 at 15 in the 10th game.
Lehecka broke in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. The Czech player held on his serve and served out the win on his first match point in the 10th game. Lehecka won 93% of his first serve points.
Alexander Zverev beat Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (9-7) 6-3. Griekspoor converted his second break point in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Griekspoor went down 0-40 on his serve at 5-4. The Dutch player saved the first break point, but Zverev converted his second chance to draw level to 5-5. The first set was decided by the tie-break, where Griekspoor earned two set points at 6-4 with a mini-break on his first point. Zverev pulled back on serve to draw level to 6-6. Griekspoor saved a set point at 7-6 before Zverev won the next two points to win the tie-break 9-7. Griekspoor smashed his racket in frustration after losing the first set.
Both players went on serve in the first six games. Zverev converted his second break point in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. The 2021 Olympic champion closed out the match with another break on his third match point in the ninth game. Zverev set up a fourth round match against Alex De Minaur. Zverev leads 6-2 in his head-to-head matches against De Minaur, but the Australian player beat his German opponent at the United Cup last January. De Minaur recently won his second Acapulco title and beat Alexander Bublik on Sunday in Indian Wells.
