Canadians in form as Andreescu, Shapovalov advance at Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. Canada’s Bianca Andreescu didn’t waste any time on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open.
Andreescu only needed 56 minutes to win her match against Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, firing five aces en route to a 6-1, 6-2 victory in third-round action at the Masters-level tournament.
Meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., won his second-round matchup on the men’s side against American Steve Johnson Sunday, taking it 6-3, 6-4 in one hour, 21 minutes.
The 18-year-old Andreescu will meet China’s Qiang Wang in the next round. The 18th-seeded Wang needed nearly three hours to beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-3.
Andreescu, playing in her Indian Wells debut, has had a strong start to the WTA season, with her latest victory improving her record to 24-3.
The Mississauga, Ont., native moved up to No. 60 in the world rankings last Monday after reaching the semifinals at the Mexico Open.
Andreescu won her first career WTA 125 Series event last month in Newport Beach, Calif., and is currently 15th in the Tour’s overall points race.
The teen was a distant No. 152 at the start of the season.
Shapovalov, who fired eight aces past Johnson, joins Milos Raonic and Felix Auger-aliassime in the third round after his fellow Canadians won on Saturday to advance.
The 19-year-old Shapovalov, seeded 24th, will next play
No. 10 Marin Cilic of Croatia. The 13th-seeded Raonic faces American qualifier Marcos Giron, while 18-year-old Auger-aliassime will play Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
Earlier, Roger Federer beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-1, 7-5 in the second round.
Federer saved six of seven break chances against the German after losing just two points on his serve in the first set.
Federer has reached the final of the desert tournament in his last four appearances, winning two years ago.
In all, he owns five titles at Indian Wells. He won his 100th career title in Dubai last week.
No. 2 seed Simona Halep needed nearly two hours to beat qualifier Kateryna Kozlova
7-6 (3), 6-3 in the third round.
Kozlova led 6-5 and was within two points of winning the first set before Halep forced a tiebreaker in their first meeting.
Halep dominated the tiebreaker, urged on by a large contingent of Romanian fans at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.