KHACHANOV WINS PCB REMATCH… Karen Khachanov took the lead in his head-to-head against Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta, winning a rematch of their Olympic semi-final, also won by the Russian, who ended with silver at Tokyo 2020. The No. 24 seed, a quarter-finalist in the Palm Desert back in 2019, won 6-0, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
RAMOS-VIÑOLAS BACKS UP FELIX UPSET… Two days following his upset over No. 7 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, Albert Ramos-Viñolas backed up his form with another upset, this time No. 29 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, recovering from a set down to advance 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 into the fourth round, his best result at a Masters 1000 event this year.
SASNOVICH RUN ENDS AGAINST AZARENKA… Aliaksandra defeated two Grand Slam champions en route to her fourth-round clash against Victoria Azarenka and charmed crowds along the way, but she wasn’t able to reel off another upset, falling to her countrywoman 6-3, 6-4. For Azarenka, her quest for a third BNP Paribas Open title continues…
The most wholesome chat 🤗
Get to know the quirkiness of Slam slayer Aliaksandra Sasnovich 🇧🇾#BNPPO21 pic.twitter.com/0M6p4hRqE8
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) October 12, 2021
BADOSA OUTDUELS KREJCIKOVA BY FAMILIAR SCORE… Good friends Paula Badosa and Barbora Krejcikova went head-to-head for the second time in their career, with the Spaniard coming through their Tuesday late-afternoon encounter by the same score as their clash earlier this year in Madrid, 6-1, 7-5.
MONFILS MAINTAINS MASTERY OVER ANDERSON… Gael Monfils is through to the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open for the fourth time in his storied career, defeating Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-2 to improve his record over the towering South African to six wins and just one loss.
“As far as the Bills, my Buffalo Bills, my family, how they support me, yeah, I think, I don’t know, they have a lot going on with the Bills right now, but they always like to watch me. They were excited the other night. I played during the prime-time game, and I actually finished really quick, so they were happy that I got the win and finished quick and got to watch the rest of the game, and we also got a win in some crazy conditions.” ––Jessica Pegula on her family, who owns the Buffalo Bills, and her other family, the Buffalo Bills.
“I think it’s more like experience for me that brings the ‘confidence,’ but I think people just put… a lot of emphasis on confidence, and I think you can win a lot of matches without it still, if you’re really good at bluffing it and you have good body language and you have good tactics and you win the right points at the right time.” ––Shelby Rogers on a refreshing take that confidence is overrated in tennis.
“I think we all suffer. When you see the matches, sometimes now I analyze matches from the outside, you see everyone suffering… I think the key is to find that joy in the suffer. The best example on that is Rafa Nadal. He’s one of my idols. Well, my idol on the female side was Maria Sharapova. She was a little bit as well the perfect example on that. That’s why they’re a little bit my idols since I was, like, nine years old. I really admire people that they suffer a lot but they come through all that tough moments.” ––Paula Badosa on suffering and what makes tennis such a brutal sport.
