11 on the Trot: Rublev Denies Tiafoe to Reach Round of 16

This one goes to 11.

Andrey Rublev rifled his way past American Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 6-4, for his eleventh consecutive victory and his first trip to the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open.

Tiafoe, who was playing his first event after taking over a month off to recover from an elbow injury, hung tough with the No.7 seed but it was Rublev who managed to play much more solid tennis in the important points to claim his victory in 70 minutes.

Rounding out the Round of 1️⃣6️⃣@AndreyRublev97 books his spot in the fourth round after beating Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4#IndianWells pic.twitter.com/x4vOUqtKpB

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 16, 2022

“To play Frances is never easy,” Rublev said. “I’m happy to win today, to be for the first time to the fourth round at Indian Wells – now, no pressure, I did better than ever here so I just need to relax.”

Rublev improves to 16-2 on the season with a brilliant serving performance. He kept Tiafoe off balance for most of the night and dropped just six first-serve points and 13 overall.

“Of course when you feel your serve and you feel that you can go full power and most likely you are going to make it, of course it’s going to give you extra confidence,” he said.

Rublev moves on to face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated American Steve Johnson, 7-6(7), 6-3.

Berrettini Enjoying California Breakthrough 

Matteo Berrettini‘s fourth appearance in Tennis Paradise is a breakthrough – and the best could be yet to come. The sixth-seeded Italian defeated South African Lloyd Harris, the No. 30 seed, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the round of 16 for the first time.

“It means a lot, I like it here very much,” Berrettini said in Stadium 2 after his ninth win of 2022. “I like the conditions but for some reason I was never able to play my best tennis. I’m happy with my performance. Lloyd is a tough player, serving really well today, so it feels nice, first time in fourth round. Every year I’m improving so hopefully this one is going to be the longest one.” 

Breaking new ground 👷‍♂️

Matteo Berrettini moves in to his first fourth round in the desert, upending Harris 6-4, 7-5#IndianWells pic.twitter.com/xhPs0VUnem

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 15, 2022

Berrettini found himself in serious trouble in the second set against the top-ranked South African, and said that releasing some of his frustration helped him turn the set around. He rallied from 2-5 down in the second set, saving three set points.

“I got nervous a little bit with myself,” Berrettini said. “I didn’t like the way I handled the first games of the second set, so I let the anger a little bit out. Sometimes it’s helpful. I kind of cursed my box out – they didn’t deserve it, but I was feeling a lot of anger, sometimes it’s very much needed – then I found the right balance, in order to break him in the important moment. And after that I was feeling the momentum and I think I played better than him.” 

Berrettini moves on to face Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the fourth round. The world No. 61 took to Stadium 3 on a balmy afternoon and eased past Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, 7-6(3), 7-5. A quarterfinalist in 2019, Kecmanovic improves to 12-5 on the season.

This is what it means to @Taylor_Fritz97 😤#IndianWells pic.twitter.com/tmXEjooayf

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 15, 2022

Fritz Edges Munar, Sets Clash with Demon

Taylor Fritz had his big-stage breakout last October when he earned his first top-5 win against Alexander Zverev to reach the semifinals at Indian Wells. Five months later the American is hoping for another magical run.

Fritz squeaked past Spain’s Jaume Munar, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2) to set a round of 16 match with Australia’s Alex de Minaur. He has now won six of his last seven at the BNP Paribas Open.

De Minaur is into the round of 16 for the second straight year in the California desert, on the strength of his 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Tommy Paul.

The Aussie owns a 3-1 lifetime record against Fritz but it was the 24-year-old American that took their last meeting in four sets at last year’s US Open.

Isner Continues American Surge 

36-year-old John Isner enjoys the current climate in American tennis, where four players – also Jenson Brooksby, Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka – have reached the round of 16. He told BNPParibasOpen.com that the rise of a talented crop of players aged 24 and younger is a constant source or inspiration for him.

“To try to keep up with these young guys, and I still want to beat them, I still want to be ranked ahead of them, I know it’s a really tough path, it’s encouraging to see that we have so many players coming up and for me to still be playing well, at my age, almost 37, is very cool, hopefully it can be inspiring for these guys coming up,” Isner said. 

Today he continued to lead by example as he powered past Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3 to reach the round of 16. Isner, a runner-up at Indian Wells in 2012, has always been a force in the California desert. He improves to 26-12 overall with his win and will face either Alexander Bublik or Grigor Dimitrov next.