Jannik Sinner crushed Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3 6-0 to reach the third round of Indian Wells and extend his winning streak this season to 13 matches, while Andy Murray fell and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced on Friday.
Sizzling Sinner stayed hot on centre court under sunny but breezy skies in the California desert, fighting off a break point at 2-2 in the opening set with a forehand winner and breaking serve for a 5-3 advantage.
After capturing the first set the Australian Open champion never looked back, losing just five points across the second set to book a third-round meeting with either 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff or Croatian Borna Coric.
Despite winning 26 of his past 27 matches, Sinner insisted he is not invincible.
“I’m not unbeatable, I’m just well-prepared,” he told reporters.
“I worked really hard to be in this position. Obviously it’s a position you dream of because winning a Grand Slam, that’s everyone’s dream, but you travel here, the conditions are different and then you have to find a way somehow.”
Andrey Rublev piled up the errors in the opening set against the veteran Scot and was forced to save four set points while his opponent enjoyed the support of the crowd on Stadium 2.
But Rublev found his range with the forehand to roll through the second set and secure a 7-6(3) 6-1 win. The Russian will meet Czech 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka in the third round.
“He had a lot of chances in the first set and I was lucky to win. Had I lost it, it would have been really, really tough,” Rublev said.
“After the first set, I felt more confidence and I knew that it would be even tougher for Andy to keep up his consistency.”
Second seed Carlos Alcaraz overcame a sluggish start to dispatch Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-7(5) 6-0 6-1 to get his hopes of a title defense in the California desert off to a winning start.
The Spaniard did not drop a set en route to the Indian Wells title a year ago but dumped a backhand into the net to hand the first set to a fired-up Arnaldi under the lights on centre court.
Alcaraz soon found his rhythm, however, playing the powerful and creative tennis that has made him a two-time Grand Slam champion and fan favourite.
“I was nervous in the first set,” Alcaraz told reporters. “That makes me at some points move different or with less energy. But in the second and the third sets it was totally different.
“My good game comes out when my energy is so high,” he added.
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Sixth seed Alexander Zverev and 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas both advanced in straight sets, while rising American Ben Shelton came from behind to score a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over Czech Jakub Mensik in other second round action.