Fernandez beats 9th seed to reach 3rd round at Indian Wells

Indian Wells, Oct. 11 (AP): Leylah Fernandez outlasted ninth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday night.

Fernandez, the U.S. Open runner-up, fought off a break point in the eighth game of the third set for a 5-3 lead. Pavlyuchenkova held to trail 5-4 before Fernandez served out the match in which she trailed a set and a break.

Fernandez is winning in doubles, too. She and partner Coco Gauff have reached the quarterfinals.

IgaSwiatek routed 25th-seeded VeronikaKudermetova 6-1, 6-0. Swiatek has dropped just five games in two matches during her first visit to the combined ATP and WTA tour event. She needed just 54 minutes to get by Kudermetova on the first anniversary of the Polish player winning the French Open.

Swiatek, seeded second, won 28 of her 33 service points, hit 19 winners and made just seven unforced errors.

“I was just feeling pretty confident,” she said. “But basically, I wanted to make a gift for my psychologist because usually when I lose there is some drama, so let’s just say she has the day off today.”

Two-time major champion Murray beat 18-year-old Carlos Alcarez 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round for the first time since 2016. The 34-year-old Scotsman got into the tournament as a wild card. Alcarez hit 36 winners to 18 for Murray.

“I felt like in the second set he played maybe better,” Murray said. “First set I felt like I had more of the opportunities but didn’t get it so yeah, happy with the way I fought. He’s a top-drawer young player.”

AliaksandraSasnovich continued her roll, beating 11th-seeded and 2015 winner SimonaHalep 7-5, 6-4. It was Sasnovich’s second straight upset of a former major champion. She took out U.S. Open winner Emma Raducanu in her second match at Indian Wells. Sasnovich has won three straight main-draw matches for the first time since 2019.

Also advancing was No. 4 ElinaSvitolina, who beat 32nd-seeded SoranaCirstea 4-6, 6-4 7-6 (3). Americans Shelby Rogers and Jessica Pegula advanced to the round of 16 with straight-set wins.