Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) – World number one Aryna Sabalenka launched her bid for an elusive first Indian Wells title with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 second-round victory over Japanese qualifier Himeno Sakatsume on Friday. Sabalenka and men’s world number two Jannik Sinner headlined the day’s play as seeded players swung into action after enjoying first-round byes.
Sabalenka, playing her first tournament since a runner-up finish to Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open, showed no sign of rust as she overpowered 136th-ranked Sakatsume, who was playing her first career match against a top-20 player. “I’m really happy with the way I was serving, with the way I was putting her on the back foot,” said Sabalenka, who has twice reached the Indian Wells final but lost to Rybakina in 2023 and to Mirra Andreeva last year.
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A nervous Sakatsume dropped her serve in the opening game but steadied after saving four break points to hold in the fifth. Even so, she had no real answer to the Belarusian’s power and the lone break was enough for Sabalenka to seize the opening set. After Sakatsume held serve to open the second, Sabalenka won five straight games, closing out the match after 72 minutes without facing a break point. “I haven’t played for a while after Australian Open, and happy with the performance today,” said Sabalenka, who was cheered on by Brazilian fiancé Georgios Frangulis.
She said the ring he surprised her with was “very comfy,” although she’d taken care to ascertain there was no danger of losing the impressive diamond solitaire during the rigors of a match. “I was pretty confident wearing this ring,” she said. “It feels comfy, it feels shiny. I hope that my opponent will get distracted with this diamond and it’s going to benefit me,” she added with a laugh.
Men’s fourth seed Alexander Zverev also sailed into the third round, beating Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-4 without facing a break point. It was an encouraging start for the German, who fell in his opening match last year and has never made it past the quarter-finals in the California desert. “I have struggled in Indian Wells before, but I feel different this year,” he said.
Hungarian veteran Marton Fucsovics pulled the first big upset of the week, ousting fifth-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-1. It was another disappointing setback for Musetti, who was playing his first tournament since he retired with a right leg injury while leading 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic by two sets in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Home hopes Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff had to battle into the third round. Ailing eighth seed Shelton clawed out a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 victory over Reilly Opelka in an all-American clash. Shelton trailed 4-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, but Opelka dropped two points on his own serve and Shelton held on to level and capture the third set with one more moment of drama when he took a hard fall in the final game.
Women’s fourth seed Gauff rallied from two breaks down in the second set for a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) victory over qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova. Rakhimova, ranked 88th, served for the second set three times, wasting one set point. She led Gauff 5-4 in the tiebreaker before the American reeled off the last three points. “I felt like if I could get into the tiebreaker, I feel like I have a pretty good tiebreak record,” Gauff said. “I knew the odds were in my favor when the tiebreaker started.”
Italy’s Sinner led off the night session as he launched his bid for a first Indian Wells title against Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina. Sinner missed Indian Wells last year serving a suspension for a positive test for banned steroid clostebol. He returned from the ban to win Wimbledon and the ATP Finals but fell to Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals and lost to Jakob Mensik in the quarters at Doha last month.
© 2024 AFP
