Tsitsipas extends unbeaten streak to seven games at Indian Wells, Fils advances

Stefanos Tsitsipas extended his win streak to seven matches on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3.

The eighth seed delivered a five-star performance, using the slower conditions to his advantage, to outplay Berrettini for the second time in as many weeks. Tsitsipas, who sunk the Italian in the Dubai quarter-finals en route to the title last week, improved to 5-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I have to focus on my serve, that’s the priority,” said Tsitsipas, who won 92 per cent (22/24) of first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “I’m thinking of how I am going to hold serve, how I’m going to press the opponent. There’s an added bonus of holding easier, you have more time to focus on the return.”

Tsitsipas will surpass Andrey Rublev at No. 7 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings with a fourth-round win. The 26-year-old has seen his half of the draw open up in Indian Wells, where top seed Alexander Zverev and fourth seed Casper Ruud both fell in their openers.

Into the fourth round for a third time in the California desert, Tsitsipas next face 12th seed Holger Rune, who claimed his first Top 20 win on hard court in 12 months when he defeated 18th seed Ugo Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 after converting four of 10 break chances.

Despite facing home favourite Frances Tiafoe on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open, Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki’s fearless game earned him an outpouring of support from the Indian Wells crowd. The 26-year-old’s adventurous flair was backed by substance as his shotmaking fuelled a 6-4, 7-6(6) upset against the 16th-seeded American.

With wins over Alexander Bublik, 19th seed Tomas Machac (via retirement) and Tiafoe, the No. 349 in the PIF ATP Rankings is the lowest-ranked man to reach the Indian Wells fourth round since tournament director Tommy Haas in 2004.

Arthur Fils fought off a match point late in the second set and ultimately turned around his Sunday showdown against Lorenzo Musetti at the BNP Paribas Open. After losing the first four games of the match and erasing that match point at 5-6 in set two, Fils claimed the lone break point of the deciding set to notch a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 victory.