INDIAN WELLS: Fourth seed Elina Svitolina survived a third-round onslaught from Romanian Sorana Cirstea to win 4-6 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, while Polish second seed Iga Swiatek eased past Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-0.

Ukraine’s Svitolina, who won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, saved 12 of the 16 break point opportunities Cirstea set up in the two-hour-and-32-minute contest, and had to fight back from 4-2 down in the third set to survive.

A year to the day since she won her maiden major title at the French Open, a dominant Swiatek dropped only three of her first serve points and never faced a break, firing off five aces against Russian Kudermetova, who was unable to get a foothold into the 54min match.

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez showed more of the resolve that helped her finish runner-up to Emma Raducanu in the US Open last month as the 19-year-old rallied from a set down to get past ninth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Victoria Azarenka beat Petra Kvitova 7-5 6-4 to set up a clash with Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Sasnovich continued her roll, beating 11th-seeded and 2015 winner Simona Halep 7-5, 6-4 having stunned recently crowned US Open champion Radu­canu in the second round.

Americans Shelby Rogers and Jessica Pegula also advanced to the round-of-16 with straight-set wins.

On the men’s side, Andy Murray rallied to win an inter-generational battle agai­nst teenager Carlos Alca­raz, reaching the third round along with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.

Murray, who has touted Alcaraz as a future world number one, defeated the talented 18-year-old 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a meeting with third-seeded German Zverev, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 winner over American Jenson Brooksby.

Greece’s Tsitsipas, the second seed, advanced in the combined WTA and ATP hard court event with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Pedro Martinez.

World number seven Matteo Berrettini defeated Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 6-4, 7-5 in their second-round match. He’ll next face 31st-seeded Taylor Fritz, who beat Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-4 in an all-American match-up.

Berrettini’s compatriot, 10th-seeded Jannik Sinner, took down Australian John Millman 6-2, 6-2, while France’s Gael Monfils defeated Gianluca Mager 6-4, 6-2.

Spain’s Albert Ramos Vinolas sprung an upset, ousting seventh-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2 and Kevin Anderson edged 17th-seeded Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-3).

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2021