INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Top seeds Daniil Medvedev and Karolina Pliskova rolled to straight-set victories at the BNP Paribas Open, when several lower-seeded players were knocked out.
Medvedev beat American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2, extending his winning streak to eight matches dating to his US Open championship last month. Medvedev never faced a break point against McDonald, who was was broken three times.
“I’m actually really pleased because usually I haven’t played well in Indian Wells and I haven’t been playing that well in practices,” Medvedev said according to AP. “I’m really happy with my performance. That’s the most important thing no matter how I played before the tournament.”
Pliskova advanced to the third round with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Magdalena Frech at the combined ATP and WTA event. Pliskova fired six aces, giving her a Tour-leading 387 this year, and converted five of her six break points.
Pliskova, ranked third in the world, needed 80 minutes to get past 23-year-old Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-2.
Pliskova fired six aces to take her WTA-leading tally to 387 for the season, converting five of six break chances against Frech.
It was the 106th-ranked Frech who grabbed the first break of the match, taking a 4-3 lead in the opening set.
But Pliskova promptly broke back and leading 6-5 the Czech gave herself a set point with a backhand winner before Frech fired into the net.
Pliskova powered to a 5-1 lead in the second set and, after dropping her serve while serving for the match, broke Frech for the fifth time in the match to claim the win.
Spain’s Muguruza, meanwhile, was bundled out 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 by Australia’s Tomljanovic, who reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon earlier this year.
Muguruza appeared to have turned things around when she pocketed the second set to level the match – aided by a rise in errors from the Aussie.
But Tomljanovic regrouped, breaking Muguruza in the opening game of the third.
Muguruza pulled the break back to knot the set at 3-3 only to drop her serve again and Tomljanovic finished it off with a final service break.
In other early women’s second-round matches, Ons Jabeur edged Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 to reach the third round.
Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 champion, beat Alison Riske 7-6 (2), 7-5.
Anna Kalinskaya outlasted No. 28 Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 and American Amanda Anisimova defeated No. 30 Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-1.
No. 12 seed Ons Jabeur, who lost to Muguruza in the Chicago final, advanced with a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over Anastasija Sevastova for her Tour-leading 45th match victory of the year.
Coco Gauff, seeded 15th, outlasted Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1, offsetting 12 aces with seven double faults.
No. 18 Anett Kontaveit retired trailing 6-3, 5-2 against Martina Trevisan. No. 22 Danielle Collins advanced when Lauren Davis retired trailing 6-1.
On the men’s side, No. 8 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 11 Diego Schwartzman, No. 16 Reilly Opelka and No. 18 Daniel Evans won.
No. 9 Denis Shapovalov was leading 3-0 when Vasek Pospisil retired. Tommy Paul defeated No. 28 Duasn Lajovic 6-3, 6-3 and Frances Tiafoe beat No. 32 Sebastian Korda 6-0, 6-4.
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