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0 Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his unbeaten start to the year with a dominant victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis, as second seed Carlos Alcaraz dropped the first set but recovered to win at Indian Wells.
Italian Sinner followed up his Melbourne triumph by winning another title in Rotterdam and, in his first match as world No 3, eased to a 6-3 6-0 win against Australian Kokkinakis.
Including his three singles victories in guiding Italy to Davis Cup success last November, Sinner has now won 16 matches in a row and 26 of his past 27 matches overall.
Sinner fought off Kokkinakis’ only break point at 2-2 in the opening set with a forehand winner and broke serve for a 5-3 advantage.
After capturing the first set the Australian Open champion never looked back, losing just five points across the second set to book a third-round meeting with either 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff or Croatian Borna Coric.
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Saturday 9th March 7:00pm
Despite being in flawless form this season with a 13-0 record, Sinner insisted he was not invincible.
“I’m not unbeatable, I’m just well-prepared,” he said. “I worked really hard to be in this position. Obviously it’s a position you dream of because winning a Grand Slam, that’s everyone’s dream, but you travel here, the conditions are different and then you have to find a way somehow.”
Alcaraz fights back after nervy first set
Carlos Alcaraz comes from behind to beat Matteo Arnaldi in a bid to defend his title.
Second seed Alcaraz overcame a slow start to dispatch Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-7(5) 6-0 6-1 to get his hopes of a title defence in the California desert off to a winning start.
The Spaniard did not drop a single set in the run-in to the Indian Wells title a year ago, but dumped a backhand into the net to hand the first set to an inspired Arnaldi under the lights on centre court.
Arnaldi displayed his best form in the latter stages of the first set trailing 3-4, before holding his nerve to win the opening tie-break.
Alcaraz soon found his rhythm, however, playing the powerful and creative tennis that has made him a two-time Grand Slam champion and fan favourite. He made just two unforced errors in the second set and continued his momentum in the third.
The second seed will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the next round on Sunday.
“I was nervous in the first set,” said Alcaraz. “That makes me at some points move different or with less energy. But in the second and the third sets it was totally different.
“My good game comes out when my energy is so high.”
Acapulco champion Alex De Minaur raced to a 6-1 6-2 win over Taro Daniel in less than an hour.
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev also cruised to a straight-sets win over Christopher O’Connell, while Tallon Griekspoor defeated Yannick Hanfmann 6-3 6-3.
Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild shocked 15th seed Karen Khachanov 6-1 7-5, Stefanos Tsitsipas took little more than an hour to dispatch Lucas Pouille and American 16th seed Ben Shelton escaped wild card Jakub Mensik 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Brits in action on Saturday
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Emma Raducanu says she appreciated the support of the American crowd during her comfortable first-round win over Rebeka Masarova at Indian Wells.
Emma Raducanu returns to action when the former US Open champion takes on 30th seed Dayana Yastremska at 7pm on Court 3 – live on Sky Sports Tennis.
British No 1 and 2021 champion Cameron Norrie faces world No 55 Lorenzo Sonego at the same time over on Court 4.
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