Alex de Minaur’s run at the BNP Paribas Open has come to an end, going down to No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 2-6 in the round of 16.
In arguably the match of the tournament so far, de Minaur put on display some of the best tennis we’ve seen him produce in 2021, but fell just short of his first victory over the Greek star.
The win for Tsitsipas is his sixth against de Minaur, in their six meetings, and he now advances to the quarterfinals where he will face Georgian 29th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Basilashvili booked his place in the quarters with a straight sets 6-4, 7-6(6) win over Russian Karen Khachanov.
On the doubles court, Australian John Peers and Slovakian Filip Polasek, in fine form took down No. 1 seeds Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic 6-2, 6-3.
American Taylor Fritz advanced to his maiden quarterfinal at Indian Wells with a tremendous 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 10 seed Jannik Sinner.
23rd seed Grigor Dimitrov claimed a major victory, toppling No. 1 seed and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, coming from a set and a break down to clinch victory.
Hubert Hurkacz, Cam Norrie, Diego Schwartzman and Alexander Zverev rounded out the men’s winners on Wednesday, all advancing to the quarterfinals.
On the women’s side, 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko booked her place in the semifinals with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over American Shelby Rogers.
"It's really great because especially after I couldn't play US Open, I was really sad about it because I was in such a great form before," Ostapenko said.
“I think it's another great opportunity because it's a big tournament. I just enjoy it. It's the last couple of tournaments this season. I'm just going to try to enjoy it as much as possible.”
"I honestly feel like I can continue the season much longer, but there are not many tournaments left. Most of the players are very tired, but I don't feel like that. I'm kind of feeling very fresh,” Ostapenko said.
Next up, Ostapenko will face 27th seed Viktoria Azarenka, who defeated 19th seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-2 in 94 minutes.
"I thought it was a really good match," Azarenka said, in her post-match press conference.
“Very high quality from both players. Very consistent in terms of level for me. I felt that I really played well in the crucial moments. I felt like I stepped up a lot to the occasion. That's what I'm really happy with today.”
"I started going for my shots from the beginning. I knew I have to apply pressure on her, and I will have the moment where I will have opportunity. I think in the beginning of the match we had a lot of great rallies, a lot of points where I was like, 'Oh, maybe I got this one,' and she got me. I felt that I really just stuck to being aggressive and being consistent. I got my opportunities,” Azarenka said.
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