Well Day Three of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells proved a shocker for many favoured players as half of the women’s seeds came out to play after first round byes.
The men’s first round matches were completed without too much fuss with the one result to raise more than a few eyebrows being Jan-Lennard Struff’s loss to wildcard Alex de Minaur.
The 19 year old Australian gave away 8 years, 85 ranking spots, half a foot in height and 40 pounds in weight to Struff, who only recently had helped Germany to a Davis Cup first round win over Australia in Brisbane.
de Minaur was scheduled to play Struff in that Brisbane tie, but the match wasn’t required since Germany had already wrapped up the contest 3-1.
And things looked anything but bright here in California for Alex as Struff strode through set one, winning 13 of 14 points on his first serve and facing no break points. de Minaur, though, played well enough, and the 6-3 scoreline only represented one break of serve off the one break point allowed on the Aussie serve.
Nothing could separate the two after that except tiebreakers, with only one service break apiece in the final set, none in the second.
de Minaur triumphed when it mattered, taking his first match at Masters 1000 level 3-6 7-6(3) 7-6(5).
Now for the tornado that swept through the seeds on display in the second round of the women’s draw.
Of the sixteen who took to court, nine have left the Indian Wells singles competition with immediate disappointment.
Yes, six of those were in the bottom sixteen seedings, but the other three were big upsets, one monumental.
The nine seeds departing:
Wildcard Caroline Dolehide, aged 19, American, ranked 165, defeated Dominika Cibulková (30) 5-7 6-3 6-4
Qiang Wang defeated Elise Mertens (22) 4-6 6-3 6-3
Marketa Vondrousova, still 18, defeated Johanna Konta (11) 7-6(5) 6-4
I said this was one to watch but I didn’t think Konta would lose
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova (19) 6-4 6-3
Petra Martic defeated Barbora Strycova (25) 7-5 6-4
Naomi Osaka defeated Agnieszka Radwanska (31) 6-3 6-2
Maria Sakkari defeated Ash Barty (16) 6-4 6-2
This was another I said to take a look at but the Sakkari scoreline shocked me
Wildcard Amanda Anisimova, aged 16, American, ranked 149, defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (23) 6-4 6-1
The biggest upset, and yet another reason for US fans to erupt in delight, was the victory of qualifier Sachia Vickery, American, ranked 100, over number three seed Garbine Muguruza.
The Spaniard had complete control, leading 6-2 3-0, with two service breaks in set two. The sort of position from which any top player would find almost impossible to find a way back.
However Vickery stepped up her game and broke the Spanish serve, and held her own for 2-3.
Muguruza steadied and at 4-2 had a close look at the finish line.
That was as near as she managed though, because Vickery amazingly won 11 of the remaining 13 games to remove Garbine from the tournament 2-6 7-5 6-1.
The USA have seven women lining up in the remaining sixteen second round matches, and four already have made the third round, three of whom no one would have predicted prior to the tournament.
Just noting Simona Halep (1), Karolina Pliskova (5), Jelena Ostapenko (6) and Petra Kvitova (9) all made it through to round three, so not all gloom and doom amongst the elite.
Stadium One is the ticket to have for Day Four with both Williams sisters in action, Serena up against Kiki Bertens (29).
Third seed Grigor Dimitrov faces a tough initial test against Fernando Verdasco to complete the day session on that court.
The night card features Roger Federer (1) making his first appearance following a bye in the opening round, where he will meet Argentina’s Federico Delbonis.
Later Vika Azarenka hopes she will continue her good form against Sloane Stephens (13j, the American having only recently begun winning matches again after a long run of outs since her 2017 US Open success.
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