Here at Indian Wells, 2023 champion Taylor Fritz is rooted as deep as the iconic palm trees that line the grounds and give his home tournament the decidedly Tennis Paradise feel that it is known for. 

Entering Monday’s Stadium 2 tussle with No.30-seeded Alejandro Tabilo, one would think that the home court advantage, coupled with the ranking disparity between Fritz and Tabilo, would make the pair’s third-round encounter effortless for the So Cal native.  

In the end, it was far from effortless – that’s why they play the matches. 

Eventually, Fritz found his way to victory, but not without a struggle. He triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to improve his lifetime record at Indian Wells to 22-7 and advance to the round of 16 in the California desert for the sixth time in his last seven appearances. 

“For me, I just tried to cut down the mistakes,” Fritz said on court after his win. “I was making more random, no-reason mistakes, and even with me feeling like I was giving him a lot of free points, I still felt like it was pretty close in the first set and a half. 

“I knew that I had to clean it up, be more solid, and raise my level a little bit.”

Fritz was caught flat-footed by the tricky southpaw in the early going, and just as he seemed to regain his footing, he tossed in a shaky service game, punctuated by an ill-timed double-fault that handed the Chilean the opening set, 6-4. 

It didn’t get easier from there. At least not immediately. 

Fritz shored up his serve significantly in the final two sets, but still had to bide his time against the 27-year-old. Finally, the American cracked through, scoring his first break of the second set to lead 4-3. 

The door cracked open, finally, Fritz would kick it in from there. He broke again to close out the second set and continued to ride the momentum in the third. 

Fritz credited his resilience for the late turnaround against Tabilo. In a rematch of their second-round match at Indian Wells last year (won by Fritz in straight sets), he had to rely on grit to get by. 

“That’s the reason why I was able to win the match today,” said Fritz. “When things aren’t working for me I resort to being solid and putting balls in the court. When I can’t even do that it’s easy to get frustrated and chalk it up to a bad day – I did a great job, digging deep and turning that one around.” 

Fritz finished in cruise control, claiming 10 of the final 11 games to book a date with Great Britain’s Jack Draper in the round of 16. 

Fritz finished with 32 winners on the day, against 43 errors including 21 off the forehand wing. Not the cleanest numbers but enough to remain a perfect 7-0 on Stadium 2.

Alcaraz Casts A Shadow Over Shapovalov 

Defending two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz continues to put his best foot forward at Indian Wells. The No. 2-seeded Spaniard produced scintillating tennis early, then weathered a late push from surging Canadian Denis Shapovalov to earn a 6-2 6-4 victory that stretches his BNP Paribas Open win streak to 14 victories. 

Alcaraz started the match like a buzzsaw, competing in high-quality rallies with the 27th-seeded Canadian and coming up with pulsating tennis to race out to a 5-0 lead. 

Alcaraz was keen to start quickly against one of the hottest players on tour in 2025. 

“I know he started the season really strong, showing really good tennis, with the title in Dallas and playing good tennis in Acapulco,” the Spaniard said. “I knew that I had to start the match really strong and really focused on my level, just to get a good pace to come into the match to show him that it’s going to be a difficult battle.” 

Shapovalov found his footing, notched a break and put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the opening set, before Alcaraz served it out, 6-2. 

In the second set the Canadian did all he could to stay with the four-time major champion, as he stayed level through the first six games, with neither player producing a break point opportunity. 

But Alcaraz turned on the jets in the seventh game, producing a critical break to lead 4-3. 

He made it stand up the rest of the way as he finished off the victory in one hour and 23 minutes to improve to 2-0 lifetime against Shapovalov and 18-2 lifetime at the BNP Paribas Open. 

21-year-old Alcaraz will face either Gael Monfils or Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16. 

“Happy that I started the match the way that I did,” he said. “It was a tough match, mentally to deal with some situations, but I’m happy that I got through.”

Draper Praises Brooksby After Hard-Fought Win 

British No. 1 Draper edged American Jenson Brooksby in the first match on Stadium 1 on Monday. It was another solid performance from the rising southpaw, who fell behind 3-0 against the Northern California native in the opening set but rallied to take control.

“No one plays like him, really,” Draper said of Brooksby in his post-match press conference. “Definitely at the start, I knew it would be difficult.

“The last couple of matches I played against him, everything went my way. So I knew he'd be coming out with a really high energy. Obviously he's really hungry. He's missed a lot of time the last couple of years.” 

Brooksby won matches on tour for the first time since the 2023 Australian Open last week, as he begins his comeback from a two-year absence due to a doping ban and two wrist surgeries. 

He took out Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the third round. 

Draper paid homage to the 24-year-old after the match when he signed the camera “Good to have a great player back.” 

In other action No.25-seeded Francisco Cerundolo defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, while Aussie Alex de Minaur, the No. 9 seed, took out Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, 6-4, 6-0, to earn his 50th career Masters 1000 win. De Minaur joins Lleyton Hewitt, Patrick Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Nick Kyrgios as one of five Australians to have notched 50 or more victories at the Masters events.