Unfazed by the daunting job of taking over third-seeded Norway’s Casper Ruud of Norway, qualifier Cristian Garin of Chile pulled off the unbelievable on Sunday, gorgeous Ruud 6-4, 7-6 (2) on the BNP Paribas Open and claiming his first win over a top-five participant in almost two years.
Garin, ranked No. 97, had 39 winners, whereas Ruud, ranked No. 4, managed simply 15 winners in opposition to 29 unforced errors in a match that lasted 1 hour and 59 minutes.
“Casper is one of the players I admire,” Garin mentioned. “I’m so happy to be playing like that, being aggressive, going to the net. That’s how I like to play and the only way I have to beat these kinds of players.”
The 26-year-old Garin improved to 3-1 lifetime in opposition to Ruud, a two-time Grand Slam finalist since they first met on tour in 2019 at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Garin strikes into the spherical of 16 to face No. 23 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who beat Thirteenth-seeded Karen Khachanov 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
Cameron Norrie, the 2021 Indian Wells champion, rallied from a set and 3-0 right down to defeat world No. 103 Taro Daniel 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2. The Tenth-seeded Norrie improved to 11-3 lifetime at Indian Wells and can face sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev, who beat Ugo Humbert 7-5, 6-3. Daniel, a qualifier, sought one other eye-opening victory following his second-round knockout over Matteo Berrettini.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who missed the second half of the 2022 season after tearing three ligaments in his proper ankle on the French Open, beat Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 1-6, 7-5. Next, he faces fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Top American lady Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 seed, rallied from a set down for the second consecutive match to beat Twenty sixth-seeded Anastasia Potapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Pegula was near dropping to the 21-year-old upstart. She confronted a break level whereas serving at 4-4 within the second set however acquired out of hassle and gained the stage. Pegula needed to rally once more within the third set, from 2-0 and 3-1 down however drew even with a break within the sixth sport. Finally, she broke Potapova to shut out the match.
“I think I started playing a little bit smarter, getting a little bit more depth on my shots,” Pegula mentioned. “Everything got slightly better, but she came out playing well. I was pretty frustrated, but she’s a great player.”
Pegula, who edged Camila Giorgi in her opening match, advances to face Petra Kvitova, who beat Jelena Ostapenko 0-6, 6-0, 6-4.
No. 6 seed Coco Gauff, enjoying on the eve of her nineteenth birthday, eased previous Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3 in a showdown of youngsters to advance to face Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, who beat Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
“I felt a little pressure coming in in today’s match, to be honest with you, because of the age thing, which I’ve never thought about that in the past,” mentioned Gauff, who moved into the spherical of 16 within the Southern California desert for the primary time.
Seventh-seeded Maria Sakkari beat No. 27 Anhelina Kalinina 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Sakkari, who reached the ultimate final 12 months, superior to the spherical of 16 for the third time in 5 profession BNP Paribas Open appearances. Next, the Greek participant will face No. 17 seed Karolina Pliskova, who breezed previous No. 11 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 7-5.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
