Former champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert swept into the BNP Paribas Open second round on Sunday when the fifth seeds defeated Damir Dzumhur and Filip Krajinovic 6-1, 6-2 in just 46 minutes. From 1-1 in the first set, the French pair won nine straight games to a 4-0 advantage in the second set. They lost just nine of their service points.

Two years ago, Mahut and Herbert captured their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells with a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the final. They have since compiled a 6-1 record in Masters 1000 finals and are 11-5 overall in championship matches.

The team will now prepare to challenge Pablo Cuevas and Horacio Zeballos, who recovered from a set and 1-4 deficit to beat Santiago Gonzalez and Nicholas Monroe 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-2 in one hour and 32 minutes.

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Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer took their chances to knock out top seeds and last year’s finalist Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-4 in 70 minutes. Last year, Kubot and Melo won three Masters 1000 titles and finished the year at No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Bautista Agut and Ferrer will next face Americans John Isner and Sock in the second round.

Elsewhere, sixth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, competing with confidence after picking up the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships crown (d. Cerretani-Paes) for a 17-4 team record in finals, knocked out Ryan Harrison and Max Mirnyi 7-6(5), 6-4 in 90 minutes. They now meet Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez.

In one other doubles match, Fabio Fognini and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi overcame Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya 2-6, 6-3, 10-5 to set up a match against in-form third seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, winners of three titles – including the Australian Open – from four finals in 2018.

Unseeded Portuguese player Joao Sousa is fast carving out a name for himself at this year’s BNP Paribas Open as the comeback king after pulling off an upset of No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday. Seemingly down and out when his #NextGenATP German opponent held break points for 5-1 in the deciding set, Sousa reeled off the final five games of the match to reach the fourth round.

At No. 85 in the ATP Rankings and coming into his Indian Wells campaign on a four-match losing streak, Sousa’s run came as a bolt from the blue. His 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 triumph over Zverev marked his second straight comeback of the tournament.

In the first round, Sousa had beaten Mikhail Youzhny in a final-set tie-break after being down a break in both the second and the third sets. Against Zverev he recovered from 2-5 down in the opening set and 1-4 down in the third to prevail.

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Watch Hot Shot: Sousa Threads A Forehand Pass

Sousa will next face 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic in the third round after the Canadian ended countryman Felix Auger-Aliassime’s fairytale run earlier on Sunday. Raonic prevailed 6-4, 6-4 in 79 minutes, launching nine aces, while turning aside three of four break points faced.

“I think generally I was consistent other than maybe those two games where I sort of just lost a little bit of discipline,” Raonic said. “But I made a lot of returns. I hit the ball well. Obviously I can be more and more aggressive, but I think that will come. I’ve got to put forth a good base first, which I’m starting to do and starting to serve a bit better as well. So I think the pieces are coming.

“Obviously today, this was my first match in a while and in a Masters 1000 where I want to do well. Against him, it also adds a little bit, so I’m happy how I dealt with that.”

With his back against the wall, Auger-Aliassime would not go down without a fight, producing a 0/40 opportunity with Raonic serving for the match. But a bevy of mammoth first serves from the big-hitting Canadian halted any hopes of a comeback. Raonic claimed just his second match win of the year in his comeback from a calf injury.

All dreams must come to an end, and for Auger-Aliassime it has been a week he will never forget in the California desert. At the age of 17, the budding #NextGenATP star became the first player born in the 2000s to qualify for an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event and followed that up with a first-round upset of compatriot Vasek Pospisil. He is also the youngest to win a match in Indian Wells since fellow 17-year-old Michael Chang in 1989.

“He’s always had a great discipline and great work ethic,” Raonic said about Auger-Aliassime. “And he’s a lot further along than where I was when I was his age by light years… He’s well beyond a 17-year-old physically. I don’t think I got to that point physically ever as far as maturity.”

In other action, a lucky loser has reached the third round in Indian Wells for the second straight year, as Israeli veteran Dudi Sela registered a 6-4, 6-4 upset of 21st seed Kyle Edmund. The 32-year-old, who fell to Evan King in the final round of qualifying on Wednesday, is enjoying his best result in his eighth tournament appearance.

Sela will next face qualifier Marcos Baghdatis, following the Cypriot’s 7-5, 6-4 dismissal of 14th seed and recent Rio de Janeiro champion Diego Schwartzman. Making his ninth appearance in Indian Wells, Baghdatis’s best result came on debut in 2006 when he reached the quarter-finals.

Baghdatis has not dropped a set in two ATP World Tour meetings against Sela, triumphing on the hard courts of Delray Beach nine years ago and also prevailing on the grass of Newport in 2016.

Once again, a John Isner and Gael Monfils match lived up to its billing. The Frenchman saved match point to prevail over his towering American rival 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 7-5 in front of a packed Stadium 2 crowd at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday afternoon. 

The two have a noted history of high-quality matches – only two of their previous nine matches had been decided in straight sets, both of which were won by Monfils. In what was the 10^th meeting in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, Monfils was able to raise his level in the biggest moments, producing highlight-reel shots and saving all seven break points he faced, including a match point at 4-5 in the third set, in the two-hour, 35-minute blockbuster. 

In an interesting quirk of the rivalry, the player winning the opening set in a tie-break has never gone on to win the match – and that pattern held true on a sweltering Sunday afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs, California.

The match’s proceedings were unsurprisingly dominated by the serve. Isner, who struck 15 aces, faced only one break point in the first two sets, which came in just the third game of the match. Monfils was able to fend off all three break points faced in the first set, but was unable make inroads in the first-set tie-break against his big-serving opponent. Playing with slightly more intensity and serving better in the pressure moments, Isner was able to claim the first set in just under an hour. 

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The second set followed a similar script. With zero break points on offer for either player, the set – and potentially the match – came down to another tie-break. Isner, who had won just two of eight tie-breaks contested in 2018 coming into the match with Monfils, went down a mini-break early. The Frenchman extended his lead with a miracle passing shot to move ahead 5/2 with a second mini-break. The American would later hit a final forehand into the net, sending the battle into a decider. 

Isner appeared to have the match in his sights at 4-3 in the third set, when he was able to push the Monfils serve to a 0/40 deficit. However, the 31-year-old was able to find his most resilient tennis, defending from all corners of the court to erase each of the three break points. Isner’s chance would come again in Monfils’ next service game, this time generating a match point on the Frenchman’s serve. Once again, the American was unsuccessful, and it proved to be his undoing – Monfils raised his level to break Isner immediately after with more unbelievable shotmaking, earning a standing ovation and the only break of the match. 

“I felt that [the third set] was a little bit tight, that’s why I fired up straight away,” said Monfils. “When I saved those last two break points I fired up the crowd because I think when you can see your opponent is tight, it’s good.

 “But then [in] the end I was very lucky, I had good aspiration I think at that game because honestly I hit a ridiculous return and passing shot, and then I just held.”

The win marks Monfils’ 12^th victory of the season, having previously claimed the title in Doha to start the year and reaching the quarter-finals or better at three of his next four tournaments. Monfils owns seven ATP World Tour titles but has yet to claim a trophy at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, reaching finals twice in Paris and once in Monte Carlo.

Up next for Monfils is compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who claimed an upset victory over No. 24 seed Gilles Muller earlier in the day. Herbert, who owns 12 doubles titles at the tour level including two Grand Slam trophies, made full use of his doubles skills to serve-and-volley his way past Muller, who was last year’s champion in both Sydney and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Last season, Herbert reached a career-high of No. 63 in the ATP Rankings, and will look to edge closer to that benchmark when he faces Monfils in what will be the first match in their FedEx ATP Head2Head.

Philipp Kohlschreiber extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Tim Smyczek to a perfect 4-0, as he recovered from a set down to move past the American 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. The win marks just his third of the season as the German looks to round back into the form that has won him eight ATP World Tour titles in his 17-year career.

“For sure it was not the best start. I think [Smyczek] played a really good first set. It was a good fight from both of us,” said Kohlschreiber after the match. “Maybe I’m not playing my best tennis right now, so it’s a double struggle a little bit with the conditions and with myself, but I kept the right moments for me, winning the big points. I’m happy that I really brought the match through.”

Up next for Kohlschreiber is either No. 2 seed Marin Cilic or Marton Fucsovics.