Each day at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open, we’ll take you inside the numbers help elucidate the many engrossing storylines that are taking place across the grounds. Consider it your by the numbers ticket to Tennis Paradise.
Here’s what we were tracking on Day 2…
GET 2023 BNP PARIBAS OPEN TICKETSIf tennis players got paid by the hour, Andy Murray might just be the ATP’s highest paid player in 2023. The great Scot, who spent five hours and 45 minutes on the court to win his second-round match at the Australian Open over Thanasi Kokkinakis, has served up nothing but drama in 2023.
Today Murray delivered a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Stadium 1 to set a second-round tilt with 15th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta.
“Another brutal match,” the legendary three-time Slam champ deadpanned on court after his victory.
More on Murray’s miracle 2023:
He is 7-0 in deciding sets in 2022.
He has won from match point down three times, saving a title of nine match points in those three victories.
He is 3-0 in deciding set tiebreaks.
He engineered his 11th career comeback from two sets down at the Australian Open against Kokkinakis.
His victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis ended at 4:05 AM.
The 35-year-old inches higher on the all-time win list with his victory. The 2009 finalist improves to 29-14 overall in the California desert. Murray ranks eighth on the all-time list.
The BNP Paribas Open women’s singles draw is littered with former Grand Slam champions in 2023. 11, to be exact – Iga Swiatek, Bianca Andreescu, Victoria Azarenka, Elena Rybakina, Petra Kvitova, Jelena Ostapenko, Barbora Krejcikova, Aryna Sabalenka, Emma Raducanu, Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin.
Of those eleven, three were in action on Thursday, including 2021 US Open champion Raducanu, who defeated Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-2 on Stadium 1.
2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and 2021 Australian Open title winner Sofia Kenin kicked off the night session on Stadium 1, with Kenin coming through with the 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Making his first appearance at the BNP Paribas Open since 2019, former runner-up Stan Wawrinka turned back the clock with a decisive victory over qualifier Aleksandar Vukic, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. The World No.100 may have undergone two left knee and two left foot surgeries since he reached the final here in 2017, but he showed that he’s still got plenty of game in Stadium 2 on Thursday.
Wawrinka, who owns a 25-11 record at Indian Wells, will face 26th-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round.
The 20-year-old American made a sizzling debut on Thursday, banging his way past Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1, by taking 12 of the final 15 games. Shelton, who has just 16 tour-level ATP matches under his belt, will bid for the upset on Saturday when he faces defending champion Taylor Fritz in a must-see second-rounder.
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