Indian Wells: Rublev, Medvedev cruise; Schwartzman survives thriller
Oct 10, 2021
California [USA], October 10 : Men's seeds kicked off their BNP Paribas Open campaign at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Saturday in a thrilling line-up featuring America's top players as well as some of the ATP's next generation of top talent.
World No. 2 and the US Open champion Daniil Medvedev put on a clinical performance against Mackenzie McDonald. The top-seed arrived in California with a 3-3 record at the BNP Paribas Open. But on Saturday evening the Russian star consolidated his status as tournament favourite with a resounding 6-4, 6-2 win against American McDonald to reach the third round.
Elsewhere, Reilly Opelka improved to 11-5 at ATP Masters 1000 events in 2021 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory in 1h 29min over Japan's Taro Daniel to reach the third round. Next up for the 24-year-old will be 23rd seed Grigor Dimitrov or Daniel Altmaier.
Earlier, crowd favourite Diego Schwartzman survived a titanic effort against qualifier Maxime Cressy in a 158-minute thriller in front of an enthusiastic Stadium 3 crowd. Schwartzman defeated Cressy by 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in 2h 38min.
In the final men's match of the evening, Andrey Rublev battled past Spaniard Carlos Taberner 6-3, 6-4. The Russian fourth seed will now clash against American Tommy Paul in the third-round match.
