INDIAN WELLS: GARIN TO BATTLE ALEJANDRO IN FOURTH ROUND AFTER OUTSHINING RUUD

Cristian Garin’s spectacular performance earned him a win in One hour 58 minutes against Casper Ruud to reach the fourth round for the first time at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The Chilean who was almost in the hang but courageously bounced into the main tournament after winning two games in the qualifying matches to book a spot in the main draw in Indian Wells heaped pressure on the Norwegian and aggressively went to the net with intelligent play.

The first set saw Garin unsettling the World No.4 with increased tenacity to outhit him by 39 winners to 17 to notch his third win against a top 10 opponents, his first since 2021. In the first set he constantly pepped up the intensity, breaking Ruud’s serve in the fifth game.

In the second set the Norwegian almost bounced to winning ways as he narrowly avoided being placed to kiss the hard court, he fought a double break in the second set recovering 30/40 to hold for 2-3. At this point the Chilean showed nerves and obviously it was a tough test.

Expertly, Garin triumphed over Ruud’s to seal the victory 6-4, 7-6 (2), a show of his rising form which he didn’t drop a set in ten games across his opening two main draw matches,

With the win Garin will be up next against 23^rd seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Alejandro had defeated 13^th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3 1-6 6-4 later Sunday. While British Cameron Norrie who was almost looking out of the tournament in California succeeded where Ruud could not, coming back from a set and a break down to defeat Taro Daniel 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2.

Meanwhile, should Garin win against Fokina he will be reaching the ATP Masters 1000 quarter- final having achieved the same feat at the 2019 Rolex Paris Masters, 2021 Mutual Madrid Open and 2022 International BNL d’Italia.

Describing his performance Garin felt impressed with his aggressive play going to the net and rattling Casper who is one of the best players that he really admires on Tour.

“Aggressively, going to net, I think that’s the way that I like to play and the only way that [can] beat kinds of players. I’m just happy” Casper said.  He further said he wants to keep improving and keep enjoying the 2023 BNP Paribas Open.