Canada's Leylah Fernandez advances to 4th round at Indian Wells; Shapovalov eliminated
Medvedev to lose No. 1 ranking after upset loss; Nadal extends unbeaten streak
Canada's Leylah Fernandez advanced to the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday in Indian Wells, Calif.
The 19-year-old from Laval, Que., beat Shelby Rogers 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, avenging her loss to the American at Indian Wells last year. She breezed through the first set in just 25 minutes.
Fernandez faces defending champion Paola Badosa of Spain on Tuesday. The Canadian is riding momentum after winning her second straight Monterrey Open title last week with a victory over Colombia's Camila Osorio.
WATCH l Fernandez avenges loss against Rogers at BNP Paribas Open:
"It will be a very tough one. She's the defending champion," Fernandez said. "She has a lot of good matches under her belt. I'm very excited to play against her.
"I'll just try to focus on my game and see what my dad (coach) has in store for me to execute."
Richmond Hill, Ont., native Denis Shapovalov was ousted in the third round. The 13th-seeded Shapovalov dropped a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 decision to American Reilly Opelka.
Opelka faces Rafael Nadal in the fourth round. The 24-year-old American was coming off two straight finals appearances that went to tiebreakers in both sets, winning at Dallas and losing at Delray Beach, Florida.
WATCH l Shapovalov falls to Opelka:
Medvedev stunned by Monfils
Daniil Medvedev's rise to No. 1 in the world came crashing down in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Gael Monfils. Medvedev needed to reach the quarter-finals in the desert to stay at the top, where he replaced Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic will reclaim the No. 1 ranking next week. The Serb is unvaccinated against COVID-19, so he wasn't allowed to enter the United States to play at Indian Wells or the upcoming Miami Open.
Monfils reached the fourth round at Indian Wells for the fifth time in six years after his second career upset of a No. 1 player. He knocked out Nadal in the quarter-finals at Doha in 2009.
"I just felt good today," Monfils said. "Tactically, I was good. I'm full of confidence."
Anything is possible 💯<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IndianWells?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IndianWells</a> <a href="https://t.co/gWef4uFf0s">pic.twitter.com/gWef4uFf0s</a>
—@BNPPARIBASOPENNadal remains perfect in 2022
Later on Monday, Spanish star Rafael Nadal defeated 27th-seeded Daniel Evans of Great Britain 7-5, 6-3 in the third round, improving his record to 17-0 this year in pursuit of an ATP Tour-leading fourth title.
Nadal tied Roger Federer (2018) and Pete Sampras (1997) for the third-best overall start to a season in the Open era that began in 1968.
So far this year, no one is touching Nadal.
He became the first player to win 400 matches in ATP Masters 1000 events.
Nadal's win over Evans under a searing desert sun ended with the Spaniard serving out the match at love. He ripped a forehand winner on triple match point.
"It's an important victory against a tricky opponent," Nadal said. "It's not an easy opponent to play. He plays tactically very well, using very well his slice, then playing aggressive, changing rhythms on the points."
Before his first match in California, Nadal withdrew from the hard-court event at Miami, which begins March 21. He turns 36 in June and is dealing with chronic pain in his left foot and tendinitis in both knees.
"I cannot make drastic changes like I did in the past," he said, "so that's why I decided to stop after here and to have three weeks before the clay court season starts for me."
Nadal survived a scare in his first match against Sebastian Korda. The 21-year-old American served for the match leading 5-2 and 5-4 in the final set.
"It was very important that I can win these first two matches without playing fantastic, but today was a little bit better than the first day," Nadal said.
No. 5 Tsitsipas suffers upset against Brooksby
World no. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece started briskly against American Jenson Brooksby in the third round of the tournament on Monday before going down 1-6 6-3 6-2.
Tsitsipas said he no longer gets too bothered by defeats - after battling severe elbow pain last season, simply competing at a high level on a tennis court is his "biggest happiness."
Tsitsipas has previously said that his doctor was stunned by how quickly he recovered from the operation late last year.
In 2022 the Greek has made the semifinals of the Australian Open and the ATP 500 event in Acapulco, and also reached the title round at Rotterdam last month.
Wild card Nick Kyrgios of Australia continued his impressive run in the tournament, taking down another big name in the men's draw on a day of upsets with a 6-4 6-4 win over world number eight Casper Ruud of Norway. He will face Italian 10th seed Jannik Sinner in the next round.
Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz defeated countryman and 15th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-0 and next plays Monfils.
In women's action, No. 4 seed Anett Kontaveit lost to Marketa Vondrousova 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5). No. 6 seed Maria Sakkari defeated Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-0 and No. 20 Elise Mertens ended the run of Australian qualifier Daria Saville, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
No. 21 Veronika Kudermetova advanced when qualifier Marie Bouzkova retired with the Russian leading 6-4, 0-2.
WATCH l Auger-Aliassime upset by Van De Zandschulp in opening match:
With files from Reuters
