Dominating displays
Sinner and alcaraz demolish Indian Wells opponents
Reigning Grand Slam champions Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz turned in dominating performances to roll into the fourth round of the ATPWTA Indian Wells Masters.
The two hottest young racquets in the sport showed no mercy in quick-fire victories, with Australian Open champion Sinner overwhelming Jan-lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4.
“Almost perfect” Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon champion, stepped up his Indian Wells title defence with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Canadian Felix Augeraliassime.
The world No. 2 Spaniard allowed his Canadian opponent no room to move, reaching the fourth round with his eighth match win in a row at the event. A pair of women’s veterans showed new life in maternity comebacks.
“It was almost the perfect match for me,” said Alcaraz, who broke Auger-aliassime’s serve four times. “I moved well, played aggressive and had less mistakes.”
Sinner was equally ruthless as he attacked Struff, with the Italian winning his 17th match in succession dating to his country’s Davis Cup victory in November.
Sinner fired 27 winners past Struff, whose style gave the third seed a target on court.
“We prepared very well, I tried to learn his moves,” Sinner said. “I played well and served well under pressure.
“Overall I can be really happy about today, I felt really good on the court.”
In WTA play, Iga Swiatek claimed quick revenge for a January loss as she hammered
Czech Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-0 to reach the fourth round.
The Polish top seed was defeated by the 29th-ranked challenger in an Australian Open thirdround upset.
On Sunday, world No. 1 Swiatek quickly recovered after going down an early break to the 19-year-old, levelling at 4-all and sweeping through the remainder of the third-round match.
Swiatek will next face Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who beat Madison Keys 6-4, 6-1.
The Pole said she learned from her loss to Noskova in Melbourne.
“It was much smarter to think about how to just play against Linda rather than focusing on my mistakes,” she said.
“I was motivated to just play better and not make the same mistakes but to improve my game in some aspects.”
Germany’s three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber earned a win as her comeback from last year’s maternity continued to gather steam.
The 36-year-old defeated Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-5.
She next faces former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, another comeback candidate after becoming a mother who advanced past Katie Volynets 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.