INDIAN WELLS: Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka, both ranked number one in the world, cruised to straight sets victories at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday night.

Djokovic beat Bjorn Fratangelo 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in pursuit of a record sixth title in the desert. It was Djokovic’s 50th match win at the tournament, his highest total at any ATP Masters 1000 event.

Defending champion Osaka beat Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4 in her first attempt at defending a WTA Tour title.

Djokovic needed an hour and a half to beat Fratangelo and improve to 11-1 on the season.

He broke back as Fratangelo served for the set to knot it at 5-5, and then raced to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker.

Djokovic had to dig deep, however, when Fratangelo battled back to lead the tiebreaker 5-4. After a double fault and a forehand error from the 25-year-old American, Djokovic suddenly had a set point, and once he’d pocketed the set, the second went all his way.

Djokovic next faces German Philipp Kohlschreiber, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Australian Nick Kyrgios.

As men’s seeds swung into action after first-round byes, third-seeded Alexander Zverev advanced when Slovakian foe Martin Klizan retired with an ankle injury with the German leading 6-3, 2-0.

Action opened on stadium court with 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime powering past Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-2, for his first win over a top-10 player.

Next up for last month’s Rio Open finalist is Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, who defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in a chillier evening session.

American qualifier Marcos Giron battled back to down 23rd seed Alex de Minaur 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 for the biggest win of his career.

Giron, 25, will be a heavy underdog when he faces Canadian 13 seed Milson Raonic, who pounded down 18 aces to send American Sam Querrey packing from Indian Wells for the second consecutive year with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 victory.

France’s Gael Monfils outlasted Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. He will next face Spaniard Albert Ramos Vinolas, who upset 15th-seeded Italian Marco Cecchinato in their second-round meeting.

Seventh seed Dominic Thiem toppled Australian Jordan Thompson 6-4, 7-5 to close out the action on Saturday.

The Austrian baseline specialist will next face France’s Gilles Simon, who he has defeated in eight of 10 career meetings.

India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff and Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic were among the other players to advance to the third round.

Teen Kecmanovic gained entry into the second round in place of injured fifth-seed Kevin Anderson. He made the most of his chance, beating Germany’s Maximilian Marterer, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the third round.

At the other end of the age spectrum, 40-year-old Ivo Karlovic advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory over 11th-seeded Croatian Borna Coric.

Osaka, whose second straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January propelled her to the top of the rankings, was beaten by 65th-ranked Mladenovic in Dubai last month in her first match since she lifted the trophy in Melbourne.

Keen to avoid a repeat, Osaka marched through the opening set in 38 minutes, but she hit a speed bump as she was broken when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second.

After Mladenovic held serve to narrow the deficit to 5-4, the Japanese player faced another break point before wrapping up the match after one hour and 21 minutes.

Osaka booked a third-round meeting with American Danielle Collins, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Kirsten Flipkens.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams pulled off the upset of the day, rallying from a set and two breaks down to topple third-seeded Petra Kvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

She booked a third-round clash with fellow American Christina McHale, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over 30th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Earlier, another American, Madison Keys, blew a late lead to fall 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 to German Mona Barthel. Next up for Barthel is a meeting with countrywoman Julia Gorges, who beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 behind seven aces in an evening match.

Unheralded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova upset former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 in a battle that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours in the evening session.

The 24-year-old will face Belinda Bencic in the third round on Monday after the Swiss cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 win earlier in the day.

Former world number one Angelique Kerber was nearly perfect en route to a 6-0, 6-2 dismantling of Yulia Putintseva, winning 93 percent of her first service points under sunny skies.

The eighth seed will meet red-hot Russian Natalia Vikhl­yantseva in the third round after the qualifier crushed Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0.

Elsewhere on Saturday, fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova shook off a slow start to defeat Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-1.

Pliskova next faces another qualifier, Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure, who defeated 28th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Other seeded winners were Aryna Sabalenka, Anastasija Sevastova, Anett Kontaveit and Lesia Tsurenko.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2019

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