Casper Ruud suffers shock defeat at Indian Wells
Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev will meet in the last 16
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Your support makes all the difference.Chilean Cristian Garin’s aggressive play overwhelmed Casper Ruud at Indian Wells on Sunday as the qualifier upset the third seed 6-4 7-6(2) to book a spot in the last 16.
Garin pounded 27 forehand winners and fought off a second set comeback attempt to dispatch the struggling Norwegian, who has yet to win consecutive matches this season.
“I’m so happy with the way that I played,” said Garin.
“I played so aggressive the whole match, even in the second set when I was leading 3-1 and lost those games.”
With the win Garin, a former top 20 player now ranked 97th, improved his career record against Ruud to 3-1.
“Casper is one of the players I really, really like on the tour so it’s very special to me,” said the Chilean.
Ruud is still searching for the sensational form that saw him make the finals of the French Open and US Open and soar up the rankings last year.
Garin will next face Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who beat Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-3 1-6 6-4.
German 12th seed Alexander Zverev dug deep to beat Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5 1-6 7-5 despite admitting he was not at his best.
“To be honest I thought he played much better than me throughout the match,” said Zverev.
“That’s just the way it is sometimes... This is tennis, one or two points can decide a match and I’m happy that I won those points.”
Zverev will next face red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev, who continued his recent streak of dominance that led to three consecutive titles with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 win over Belarusian Ilya Ivashka.
Fifth seed Medvedev looked like he would make quick work of Ivashka after a one-sided first set but ran into trouble in the second where he grew agitated with some noisy fans on a windy night on center court.
He corrected course in the third, however, breaking to take a 2-0 lead and cruising to the finish.
Earlier in the day Britain’s Cameron Norrie, seeded 10th, fought back to beat Japanese player Taro Daniel 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2 as the 2021 champion looks to add a second Indian Wells title to his collection. He will next play Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev.
American Frances Tiafoe, seeded 14th, will face Chilean Alejandro Tabilo in the round of 16 after both players advanced in straight sets.
Reuters
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