The victories of Karatsev and Khachanov, the success of Medvedev and the departure of Rublev: how the Russians started at the Masters in Indian Wells

50 victories of Medvedev per season

The Indian Wells Masters have not opened their doors to tennis players for a long time and have not delighted fans.

In 2020, the competition, which is sometimes called the fifth Grand Slam tournament, did not take place due to the coronavirus pandemic, for the same reason they had to be postponed from March to October this season.

After Novak Djokovic's refusal to participate in the tournament, the organizers sowed Daniil Medvedev as the first number - never before have Russian players been awarded such an honor.

In the absence of the world leader, the US Open champion had an excellent opportunity to win another title and close the gap with a competitor before the Final Tournament.

In the past, Medvedev has failed to prove himself in Indian Wells: he won only three matches and suffered the same number of defeats.

But now that the tournament is, in fact, part of his favorite North American tour, the Russian has managed to reach the fourth round for the first time.

Interestingly, Daniel's first two rivals turned out to be the same as two years ago, when he was seeded at number 14 and was not yet perceived as the main heir to the “big three”.

The Russian again began his journey with a second round duel with Mackenzie MacDonald.

As in all four previous face-to-face meetings, he did not give his opponent a single set.

Medvedev did not even allow the American to earn at least a break point, and he himself took his serve three times, which was enough to win with a score of 6: 4, 6: 2.

Next, he had to take revenge on Serb Filip Krajinovic, who in 2019, having made his way to the tournament through qualification, defeated the Russian tennis player.

The match had to be postponed for a long time due to rain, but the opponents had to put up with a strong wind.

Medvedev quickly got his bearings and began to shorten more often, with which Krainovich could not cope.

As a result, the Russian won the first set in just 35 minutes, losing only two games.

In the second game, Medvedev made a break early, winning a point after a mind-blowing 36-hit play.

But despite the fact that the US Open champion served and won 70% of rallies on the first ball brilliantly, and also made fewer unforced mistakes, Krajinovic was able to impose a fight and forced a tie-break.

In it, Medvedev showed class and lost only one point.

This victory was the 50th for the Russian for the season and the tenth in a row. Only the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas won more than him in 2021, moving towards Medvedev in the lower half of the grid. In recent matches, the second racket of the world has left 44 out of 48 sets, which can also be called an impressive achievement. At the same time, after the victory over Krajinovic, he noted that it was not easy for him to break into the fourth circle of Indian Wells.

“It seems that I started to play less, I play only at the biggest tournaments or at those that will help to get in shape.

Therefore, I am very glad that I was able to win 50 victories.

This means that I have shown myself well in many tournaments.

Philip is a very tough opponent.

He always plays high-level tennis, plays tough matches, especially the second set.

There were many ups and downs, but we both showed the class.

I am very glad that I managed to complete the tie-break in my favor, ”Medvedev said.

The next opponent of the Russian will be Grigor Dimitrov, seeded 23rd.

This year, Medvedev has already defeated the Bulgarian in the 1/8 finals of another American Masters - in Cincinnati.

Karatsev's exit to the 1/8 finals

When the Indian Wells tournament was held last time, Aslan Karatsev was in 437th place in the ranking and had no chance of even qualifying.

Now he immediately found himself in the main draw with the 19th seed and also made his way to the fourth circle.

The debut at the tournament turned out to be quite simple for Karatsev.

He beat qualifying winner Salvatore Caruso, winning the first set dry and losing two games in the second.

Further, the Russian was faced with a more serious test in the person of the 13th racket of the world, Denis Shapovalov from Canada.

The first set turned out to be quite stubborn.

Shapovalov scored Karatsev with aces, but he still tried to take the opponent's serve and seize the initiative.

It turned out only in the 11th game, when the Canadian played unsuccessfully in the meeting.

In the next game, Karatsev did not have to wait so long, he took the lead with a break after the third game.

Shapovalov had no chance to win back, since the game at the reception went wrong completely.

Thanks to this victory, Karatsev rose from 23rd place in the ATP rankings, which is the highest for him in his career, to 20th.

True, while virtually - a number of players can still get around it if they successfully play in Indian Wells.

To consolidate the success, the Russian needs to beat the Pole Hubert Hurkach in the next round.

They recently met at a tournament in San Diego, and the Vladikavkaz native won in three sets.

Karatsev also continues to perform in a doubles tournament with Andrei Rublev.

They have already made their way to the quarterfinals, beating first Australian Alex de Minaura and American Riley Opelka, and then Italian Simone Bolelli and Argentine Maximo Gonzalez.

Remake of the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics

Karen Khachanov is one of those who are pursuing Karatsev in the world rankings.

The Russian seeded 24th is in the lower half of the grid, so he has only managed to play one match so far.

In it, Khachanov defeated Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, who occupies 78th place in the ATP ranking and recently won a victory over Karatsev at the tournament in Nur-Sultan.

Finn sometimes managed to impose his tennis on Khachanov and take his serve once, but basically the game was still dictated by the Russian, who responded with four breaks and 73% of the points won in the first serve.

Now he will compete for the fourth round with the Spaniard Pablo Carreño-Busta, whom he remembers well from the victorious semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics.

Departure of Rublev in the third round

The only loss among Russian men in Indian Wells so far has been Andrei Rublev.

He came to California to officially enter the Final Tournament, but he was unable to do so.

Already at the start of the tournament, Rublev showed a not very confident game.

In the first match, he met with the 116th racket of the world Carlos Taberner from Spain and in the second set gave him his serve, which allowed the opponent to level the score.

In the end, he still ended the match in his favor and went to the American Tommy Paul.

Rublev never had problems with this opponent - he beat the 60th racket of the world three times.

But the Russian could not continue the winning streak.

The rivals exchanged sets and began to play the decisive third game.

Rublev was inferior in it with a score of 3: 5 and even allowed Paul to go to matchball, but still won back and responded with two games.

This was where the Russian ended his resistance.

Paul made another break and brought the meeting to victory, which lasted almost 2.5 hours.