Andrey Rublev, on a 10-match winning tear, is the hottest ATP Tour player this side of Rafael Nadal. The Russian has already won titles in Dubai and Marseille and began his run at the BNP Paribas Open with a routine, straight-sets win over Dominik Koepfer.

His opponent in Tuesday’s third round is Frances Tiafoe – at first glance, a player looking desperately to create some momentum. The American started his season with a five-set win over Marco Trungelliti in the first round of the Australian Open, but it was nearly two months before he collected his second victory. That came in the Indian Wells second round, 6-4, 6-4, against compatriot Brandon Nakashima.

Tiafoe, who has been plagued by an elbow injury, can take heart, for history is on his side. The one time he met Rublev, the result was a scintillating victory in five sets in the third round of last year’s US Open. This matchup of talented 24-year-olds could be the gem of the eight third-round matches from the bottom-half of the draw.

Seventh seed Rublev and sixth seed Matteo Berrettini are the highest seeds left in the bracket, leaving things very wide open to suggestion. Steve Johnson is the lowest-ranked player left, at No. 115, and the only one outside the Top 100.

Johnson is one of five Americans still in play in the bottom half of the draw. There are seven U.S. players left in the third round, the most in Indian Wells since the event expanded to a 96-player draw in 2004. Previously, there were seven Americans in the third round in 1994 when the draw was 56.

Johnson draws the tough assignment 11th seed Hubert Hurkacz, who happens to be the defending Miami Open presented by Itau champion. Hurkacz needed three sets to get past Oscar Otte in the second round, while Johnson upset No. 22 seed Aslan Karatsev 7-6(5), 6-4. They’ve met once before, with Hurkacz taking the 2019 round of 16 match at Eastbourne in straight sets.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old American Tommy Paul scored the biggest upset of the second round, taking down third seed Alexander Zverev in a taut third-set tiebreaker. His opponent is 29th seed Alex de Minaur, an Australian who had a strong round of 16 performance at this year’s Australian Open. The two have never played.

World No. 20 Taylor Fritz, the hometown favourite here, takes on Spaniard Jaume Munar in a first meeting. The 2021 semi-finalist feels his game is in a good place as he seeks a further push up the ATP Rankings.

“For sure, I think just my level as a player has gone up,” said Fritz after his straight-sets win over Kamil Majchrzak in the second round. “I think I’ve gone up several levels. I think I’m a way better player than I was when I was here last year, and I think I’ve improved a lot.

“So, yeah, I expect a lot more of myself. My goal is to move into the Top 10. So, I definitely have a lot higher expectations.”

The last American in action is John Isner, who will face 14th seed Diego Schwartzman. It’s a study of size versus speed, with the 6′ 11″ Isner enjoying a 16-inch advantage over the speedy Argentine. Isner prevailed in their only previous meeting – at the 2017 Rolex Paris Masters – but that one went three sets and featured two tiebreakers.

Berrettini meets No. 30 Lloyd Harris for the second time, following a 2020 second-round win at Roland Garros. The World No. 6 needed three sets to get past Danish teenager Holger Rune, while Harris also went the distance before prevailing over Facundo Bagnis.

Berrettini had only won one main-draw match in three main-draw appearances in Indian Wells prior to this year, and the five-time ATP Tour titlist acknowledged the challenge the conditions in the California desert pose after his victory over Rune.

“It’s always tricky,” said the Italian. “I would say the toughest part about playing here, sometimes you feel like also the balls get really big, but at the beginning they’re really fast. It’s tricky to control this kind of stuff. Sometimes it doesn’t get the spin that you want, sometimes the ball is flying, sometimes too much spin.

“You have to have a good touch, a good feeling. Of course, the more you play, the more you’re going to get used to it.”

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Montpellier champion Alexander Bublik takes on Grigor Dimitrov. Bublik holds a 2-1 head-to-head edge but Dimitrov won their most recent meeting, in straight sets at last year’s ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati.

Finally, one of these players – Miomir Kecmanovic or Botic van de Zandschulp – is going to find himself in the fourth round. Kecmanovic, who finished 2016 as the World No. 1 junior, ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas, is ranked No. 61 in the ATP Ranings. Van de Zandschulp, who qualified last year at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open and played Wimbledon as a lucky loser, is the World No. 47.

The Dutchman upset ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in a three-hour, 16-minute marathon in the second round on Sunday, staying calm to take the deciding set after missing three match-point chances in the second. He will look to retain the same composure against Kecmanovic on Tuesday.

“Of course you are a little bit frustrated if you have match points in the second set,” said van de Zandschulp after the win over Auger-Aliassime. “It’s not like I missed any shots but he played some great points. Then it’s a little bit easier to deal with than when you’re missing chances. I thought I was playing well and that’s how I continued in the third.”

SCHEDULE – TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022

STADIUM 1 start 11:00 am
WTA – [26] S. Cirstea (ROU) vs [24] S. Halep (ROU)
WTA – [3] I. Swiatek (POL) vs [15] A. Kerber (GER)
ATP – [14] D. Schwartzman (ARG) vs [23] J. Isner (USA)

Not Before 6:00 PM
WTA – P. Badosa (ESP) or S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP) vs L. Fernandez (CAN) or S. Rogers (USA)
ATP – [7] A. Rublev vs [28] F. Tiafoe (USA)

STADIUM 2 start 11:00 am
ATP – [6] M. Berrettini (ITA) vs [30] L. Harris (RSA)
ATP – [Q] J. Munar (ESP) vs [20] T. Fritz (USA)

Not Before 3:00 PM
WTA – [6] M. Sakkari (GRE) vs [Q] D. Saville (AUS)

Not Before 6:00 pm
ATP – [31] A. Bublik (KAZ) vs [33] G. Dimitrov (BUL)

Not Before 8:00 PM
WTA – [21] V. Kudermetova vs [30] M. Vondrousova (CZE)

STADIUM 3 start 11:00 am
ATP – M. Kecmanovic (SRB) vs B. van de Zandschulp (NED)
ATP – [29] A. de Minaur (AUS) vs T. Paul (USA)
WTA – [Q] H. Dart (GBR) vs [25] M. Keys (USA)

Not Before 5:00 pm
ATP – [WC] S. Johnson (USA) vs [11] H. Hurkacz (POL)
WTA – [17] E. Rybakina (KAZ) vs [31] V. Golubic (SUI)

STADIUM 4 start 11:00 am
WTA – P. Martic (CRO) vs [28] L. Samsonova
WTA – I. Begu (ROU) / M. Niculescu (ROU) vs [5] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / G. Olmos (MEX)
ATP – R. Bopanna (IND) / D. Shapovalov (CAN) vs [PR] S. Gonzalez (MEX) / E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
WTA – [8] C. Dolehide (USA) / S. Sanders (AUS) vs Y. Xu (CHN) / Z. Yang (CHN)

A locked-in Nick Kyrgios soared to his first Top 10 win in more than two years on Monday night at the BNP Paribas Open. After blitzing through his opening two rounds with the loss of four games per match, Kyrgios levelled up to knock off World No. 8 Casper Ruud.

The 26-year-old’s confidence and concentration level shined through in a 6-4, 6-4 upset that evened his ATP Head2Head against the Norweigan at 1-1. Kyrgios’ all-out attack yielded early breaks in both sets, and he never came close to letting his lead — or his focus — slip in a one-hour, 16-minute victory.

In an efficient performance, the Aussie converted both of his break points and did not face any on his own serve. Kyrgios was never pushed as far as deuce on his own deal, firing seven aces and winning 82 per cent (28/34) of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

With his Australian Open doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis watching from the stands, Kyrgios looked more than capable of backing up the pair’s Melbourne title with the Indian Wells singles crown.

Nick Moves Forward ➡@NickKyrgios ousts Ruud 6-4 6-4 to set up a R4 encounter against Sinner!

Hasn’t dropped serve all week…#IndianWells pic.twitter.com/SzXYUpetpn

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 15, 2022

Buoyed by early leads in both sets, Kyrgios was positive and vocal throughout the contest, pumping himself up at key moments but keeping a very even keel even after some show-stopping winners.

The closest he came to trouble was at 15/30 as he served out the match. But he showcased his variety to close it out in style with an ace, a backhand volley winner and a measured 19-ball rally that ended with a forced error from his opponent.

A seven-time ATP Tour champion, most recently on the Buenos Aires clay in February, Ruud was unable to match his fourth-round run from his Indian Wells main-draw debut five months ago.

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Kyrgios, whose six tour-level titles have all come on outdoor hard courts, has only been beyond the second round at Indian Wells once before. He made the most of that 2017 run by beating Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic to reach the quarter-finals, but withdrew with illness before facing Roger Federer.

In order to reach the quarter-finals this year, Kyrgios will have to get through 10th seed Jannik Sinner, who edged Benjamin Bonzi, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, earlier on Monday.

In 12 short months, Jenson Brooksby has come whistling out of the weeds to become an irresistible force on the ATP Tour. But he has produced no bigger result that he did Monday night when he claimed his first Top-5 victory, winning a bruising 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 baseline battle with Stefanos Tsitsipas to charge into the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Last March, he was ranked outside the Top 250 playing a Challenger in Cleveland and today the 21-year-old American is at a career-high No. 43 with a firm shot at kicking in the door to the Top 40 next Monday.

All he’s done at this BNP Paribas Open is dismiss Roberto Carballes Baena, Olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov and now Tsitsipas to reach the round of 16.

“You never know at that stage [a year ago] what’s going to happen,” Brooksby said in his on-court interview. “You can’t predict the future, but all you can do is what’s in your control. I knew in my head I thought I had the game to be here, and there’s nothing as good as replicating it out here.”

The victory over the No.5-seeded Tsitsipas was a classic piece of stealth work by the excitable Brooksby. Tsitsipas was typically crisp and clean, winning the first set with the original set of tennis balls, but Brooksby came back to win 12 of the last 17 games. The score was 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 but it felt more lopsided than that.

Brooksby, one of seven Americans in the third round, joins fellow American Reilly Opelka, a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 winner over Denis Shapovalov, in the fourth round. The other five – Taylor Fritz, John Isner, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Steve Johnson all have an opportunity to join them Tuesday. Seven U.S. men in the third round is the best total since 1994, when the draw was 56.

“I felt really good going into the match,” Brooksby said. “I was hitting well, I thought I prepared well. I just got a little tight, I think. A little bit in my own head. It’s only a percentage of the time. It’s the whole match.

“I mentally got myself to turn around. I breathed a little bit, I calmed down, and I said let’s switch things around.”

Brooksby moved on from that nervous first set, breaking Tsitsipas’ serve for the first time in the second game. A number of net-charging volleys brought the significant crowd out of their seats and it was on to the third set, where Brooksby was nearly flawless, finishing off their first meeting.

Brooksby won 85 points, five more than Tsitsipas, and had 21 winners, against 30 unforced errors. Tsitsipas finished with 19 and 33, respectively.

Tsitsipas already has gone deep into draws this year, reaching the final at Rotterdam and the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Acapulco, but thus far a title has eluded him. This loss will disappoint him deeply, for with the surprising departure of top seed Daniil Medvedev at the hands of Gael Monfils, the top half of the draw looks a lot more open than it did 24 hours ago.

Brooksby meets the winner of Tuesday’s late match between defending champion Cameron Norrie and Nikoloz Basilashvili. Five months ago, Norrie became the first British player to win here in the event’s 45-year history.

“I mean, it’s my favorite tournament,” said the Sacramento-born Brooksby. “This was the tournament I watched as a kid. It means a lot that I’m making good strides from last year and continuing to improve. I’m excited to keep it going, see what I can do.”

Wesley Koolhof has played the last six Australian Opens with six different partners. He may have finally found a long-term running mate in fellow 32-year-old Neal Skupski. 

After joining up at the start of the 2022 season, the Dutch/British duo have won three titles in six events, including victories their first 10 matches. By reaching the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals, they’ve improved their season record to 19-3.

Great Britain’s Skupski reached a career-high doubles ATP Ranking of No. 14 last season, when he primarily played with his brother and longtime partner Ken Skupski, as well as British singles No. 2 Daniel Evans.

As Koolhof was looking for a partner for the new year, Skupski was available and fit the profile for the Dutchman’s ideal teammate: a talented, doubles-focused player around the same age… and preferably someone who could play the ad court, given that Koolhof has played the deuce side for the past seven years.

“I’m always trying to look for a bit of a longer partnership,” the former doubles World No. 5 told ATPTour.com.

He asked Skupski to pair up, and after some discussions about tennis philosophy and tactics, they decided to go for it. While the pair were not previously close outside the Tour, they were friendly at tournaments, often chatting about fantasy football. Being the same age, they both came up through the ATP Challenger Tour at the same time as they made their way to the top of the game.

The accomplished pairing expected success in their new venture, but even they were surprised by how quickly it came.

“You go into a new partnership not knowing what’s going to happen,” Skupski explained. “You just kind of hope it’s going to click early on. Some teams it takes a couple of months to get used to each other. But I think with me and Wes, we’re very similar off the court as well. We’re quiet. Our game styles have matched straight away.”

After first getting on the court together the week before their first event in Melbourne, they won a match tie-break in the opening round of the Melbourne Summer Set, then won their next 18 sets in a row. Those 18 sets propelled them to ATP 250 titles in Melbourne and Adelaide, and a quarter-final run at the Australian Open.

It’s another win for champions @nealskupski and @wesleykoolhof 🏆

The Dutch-British pair defeated Bopanna & Shapovalov 7-6, 6-1 Qatar finals🤜

📸: @qatartennis | #qatarexxonmobileopen2022 pic.twitter.com/d8T5R2rWkR

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 18, 2022

“The idea was to play as many matches as possible before going into the first Slam, and we did that.” Koolhof said, delivering that understatement with a smile. “It doesn’t happen that many times that you start a new partnership and directly win three tournaments in your first six.”

Both men enjoy the team aspect of doubles, and have also represented their home nations in both Olympic and Davis Cup competition. Skupski played college tennis at LSU has always enjoyed team sports, while Koolhof grew up playing soccer in Holland.

“I think it does help me on the doubles court, having someone next to me,” Skupski said of the discipline. “You can be a bit more open and you don’t want to let each other down. So it spurs you on to be successful.”

Koolhof and Skupski are hopeful that their newly formed team, and their title rush, will last long into the future. In addition to the familiarity of a consistent partner, the Dutchman also mentioned other benefits of long-term parings, including from a branding and fan-engagement perspective.

They’ll face a long-term partnership in the Indian Wells quarter-finals, when they take on Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. That American-British pairing won the Australian Open title in 2020 and the US Open in ’21, as well as an ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto last summer.

With three ATP 250 titles already to their name, Koolhof and Skupski are seeking similar results. A trophy in Indian Wells would be their biggest yet.

“We’ve come together at the right time, and hopefully we can continue with our success so far,” said Skupski.

After losing an uneven three-set match to Gael Monfils Monday at the BNP Paribas Open, the top-seeded Daniil Medvedev turned philosophical.

“Is it better to be No. 1 for, let’s say one week in your life, or never touch it?” he said, posing a not-so-rhetorical question to reporters. “I think it’s still better to at least touch it.”

As it turns out, Medvedev’s fingerprints will be on the No. 1 ranking for a total of only two weeks, until next Monday, when he will relinquish that coveted title back to the record-setting seven-time year-end No. 1 Novak Djokovic. That the 26-year-old Russian can quickly grab it back with a semi-final performance at the upcoming Miami Open seemed to be of great comfort to him.

“Well, now I know I’m going to lose it,” he said, “so I have Miami to try to get it back. Usually feeling a little bit better in Miami in terms of tennis, so we’ll try to play good there.

“I thought it could give me more motivation, well, I had motivation. It’s just that, yeah, I didn’t find my best tennis.”

Medvedev vaulted past Djokovic on the strength of his sizzling start to the 2022 season, advancing to the final of the Australian Open and the semi-finals at Acapulco. In both instances he fell to a resurgent Rafael Nadal. It was just another reminder how consistent Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer have been over the past two decades.

“I always say, when I play my best tennis, my good tennis, it’s really tough to beat me,” Medvedev said. “But that’s the toughest part of tennis is to reproduce it time after time. That’s where the big three are just unreal because no matter which conditions, no matter which surface, they are always winning tournaments a lot of the time or winning some crazy matches. Yeah, I’m going to need to try to do better.”

Back in August of 1977, a young player from Sweden rose to No. 1 for the first time – and promptly lost it a week later to Jimmy Connors. Bjorn Borg, however, would return to the top for a total of 109 weeks, even though he retired at the age of 26. Austria’s Thomas Muster became the ATP Tour’s 13th No. 1 player, but was supplanted one week later by Pete Sampras. Muster would ultimately reign on top for a total of six weeks.

The two other players in that conversation, Patrick Rafter and Carlos Moya, were No. 1, respectively, for one week and two weeks.

Based on his spectacular skill set and Djokovic’s lack of activity, Medvedev could well return to the top for many, many weeks. Certainly, the 6-4, 3-6, 1-6 loss to Monfils may have a motivational impact.

“So I’m going to try my best, on practice courts, on the matches, Grand Slams, Masters Series, to win as many tournaments and gain as many points and try to be World No. 1 for a long time,” Medvedev said. “You never know how your career’s going to turn. I want to try to be better than I was here, maybe fighting better.

“If it doesn’t happen, I think it’s the same. But the Top 100, the Top 10, some people stay there for long time, some people not. I think to have this achievement in your career is definitely still a good thing.”

After surviving a scare against Sebastian Korda in his opening match in Indian Wells, Rafael Nadal earned a far more comfortable victory over 27th seed Dan Evans on Monday.

The Spaniard advanced to the Round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory, extending his career-best start to an ATP Tour season to 17-0 and earning his 400th career ATP Masters 1000 victory. 

Nadal stormed out of the gates with an explosive hold, finding open court time and again with his favoured forehand. But after discussing his struggles with control in the desert conditions following the Korda match, Nadal’s calibration again fell off as the steady Evans broke in his next return game.

From 4-2 in the first, Nadal won eight of nine games to take the first and open up a 3-0 lead in the second. Nadal used pinpoint passing shots to set up both breaks in the opening set, saving a break point in between at 5-all with a tough backhand volley.

The only break of set two came when a freak return sailed off the top of Nadal’s frame, high into the desert sky and back into the court. After an interminable wait, Evans could not control his overhead off the bounce.

Nadal saved the only break point against him in the set with a surprise serve and volley at 3-1, and one his final 11 service points as he raced through the finish line with two love holds.

With Medvedev falling to Gael Monfils earlier on Monday and Alexander Zverev being upset by Tommy Paul on Sunday evening, the fourth-seeded Nadal is the highest-ranked player remaining in the desert draw.

The three-time Indian Wells champion will face a Top 20 player next in either Denis Shapovalov or Reilly Opelka.

Gael Monfils recaptured the form that saw him reach the Australian Open quarter-finals to knock out World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Monday in Indian Wells. With the loss, Medvedev will hand back the top spot in the ATP Rankings to Novak Djokovic on Monday.

The 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory puts the Frenchman into the Round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open, where he will face the red-hot Carlos Alcaraz.

After competing just once in February, the 26th seed got his first win since Melbourne against Filip Krajinovic on Saturday. He built on that with a scintillating performance in Stadium 1, his explosive and care-free tennis enthralling the early afternoon crowd in the desert.

After a sloppy end to the first set, Monfils found a new gear for the rest of the two-hour, four-minute match. He used two screaming break-point winners to gain control of the second set, re-establishing his break advantage with a forehand rope that sent the crowd into a frenzy as Monfils basked in the support.

Monfils charged to a 4-0 lead in the final set, twice battling through deuce to break. On his sixth match point, the Frenchman fittingly ended the match in style with a backhand winner.

It’s a second career victory over a current World No. 1 for Monfils, his first coming against Rafael Nadal in 2009 in Doha.