Medvedev's revenge, Pavlyuchenkova's comeback and Kasatkina's achievement: how the Russians started at the Masters in Indian Wells

The strongest tennis players in the world are fighting for victory at the Masters in Indian Wells this week.

And already in the first rounds of the tournament there were loud sensations.

For example, Novak Djokovic lost to a lucky loser for the first time in his career.

The Serb failed to cope with the 123rd racket of the world, Luca Nardi.

The Italian, who made it into the main draw as a lucky loser, won

with a score of 6:4, 3:6, 6:3.

Rafael Nadal never entered the court.

He arrived in the USA a few weeks ago, but withdrew from the competition immediately after the draw, which resulted in his opponent being the not-so-formidable Canadian Milos Raonic.

Moreover, the reasons for the decision of the former first racket of the world are unknown, since he looked very good at the exhibition tournament in Vegas.

However, the Spaniard remains in America, and there are chances to see him in a week at an equally prestigious tournament in Miami.

Of the Russians in Indian Wells, Daniil Medvedev is so far successfully making his way.

In the second round, he easily dealt with the Spaniard Roberto Carballes-Baena, but in the third he crossed rackets with a much more difficult opponent - Sebastian Korda, who had previously knocked out Roman Safiullin from the fight for the trophy.

Matches between the fourth racket in the world and an American are always difficult.

Before that, they had met three times on hard court, and the last two went to the American.

Moreover, the matter came to tie-breaks three times.

The match in Indian Wells hardly pleased tennis fans with the quality of the game.

The athletes made too many mistakes: between them they made 43 unforced errors and 15 double errors in three sets.

The opponents did not hold their serve in the best way either: 16 breaks in the men's singles is an impressive figure.

However, Medvedev looked a little better that day: at the end of the third set, Korda was extremely inaccurate, missing the length and width of the court.

Now Daniil will fight with another serious opponent - Grigor Dimitrov, who is currently ranked 13th in the ATP rankings.

Meanwhile, Andrei Rublev and Karen Khachanov are leaving the Masters.

For the fifth racket of the world, an insurmountable obstacle was Jiri Legecka, who acted much more actively than his opponent in Indian Wells: he accounted for almost four times more actively won points (31:8).

However, it is possible that the Russian has not recovered psychologically from the recent scandal.

Let us remind you that he was disqualified in the semi-finals of the “thousander” in Dubai for insulting the judge and they even planned to cancel all the results of the tournament, but later the ATP still limited itself to just a fine.

Khachanov couldn’t cope with Thiago Wilde in the first match.

Moreover, the Brazilian simply defeated the Russian in the first set - 6:1.

The opponents had never met on the court before.

At the same time, the 65th racket of the world managed to be remembered by fans for defeating Medvedev in the first round of Roland Garros last year.

It wasn’t easy for Andrey Rublev in the match with him this year at the Australian Open.

In the Indian Wells women's bracket, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina and Anastasia Potapova made it to the 1/8 finals.

Moreover, the Olympic champion in mixed doubles is fighting not only for rating points, but also for getting into the next Games.

To do this, she needs to get around Veronica Kudermetova.

Let us remind you that four representatives of the country with the highest rating as of June 10 will be able to travel to Paris.

At the thousand-meter stage, Pavlyuchenkova has already advanced further than her compatriot, who lost to Angelique Kerber in the third round.

Nastya dealt with Spaniard Nuria Parrizas-Diaz and Brazilian Beatriz Haddad-Maia, who ranks 13th in the WTA rankings and usually causes a lot of problems for Russians.

However, she has never gained the upper hand in matches with the Olympic champion.

The confrontation in the United States was no exception.

Although it all did not start out in the best way for the domestic athlete.

She lost the first game with a score of 2:6, but then still managed to pick up the keys to her opponent and turn the tide of the match back.

At the same time, according to the tennis player, she did not expect such a difficult match.

In the next round, Pavlyuchenkova will play against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.

Kasatkina also has a difficult net.

To reach the 1/8 finals, she had to fight with the winner of the 2017 US Open, Sloane Stephens.

The American currently ranks 44th in the rankings, but has risen to third place in her career.

Moreover, before Indian Wells, the rivals met five times, and only once did Daria gain the upper hand.

It wasn’t easy for the Russian woman this time either.

Stevens acted more reliably in the first set and won quite confidently - 6:2.

At the same time, the domestic tennis player closed the game, giving away the game on her serve and hitting a double at the decisive moment.

However, then Sloan began to play more carefully and lost her concentration a little, which led to an abundance of mistakes.

Kasatkina took advantage of the situation, made a break and with difficulty, but brought the matter to victory in the game - 6:4.

By this time, the American seemed to have no strength left, but she fought to the end, and the third set turned out to be very nervous.

The girls couldn’t take their serve, making seven breaks at once.

However, in the end the Russian played a little more reliably.

Daria made it to the fourth round of the Indian Wells tournament for the first time since 2018.

Potapova also continues to fight at the thousand-meter mark.

She was a little luckier than her compatriots.

And so far she has not encountered such serious opponents on her way.

Anastasia calmly defeated Czech Marie Bouzkova, and then destroyed Argentine Nadiya Podoroska, allowing her to take only two games.

But in the 1/8 finals, Anastasia will have to fight with Yasmina Paolini, who is having an excellent season: the 14th racket of the world won the WTA-1000 tournament in Dubai, defeating Anna Kalinskaya in the final.

Interestingly, in Indian Wells, the participants in the decisive match in the UAE also met on the court: in the third round, in three games, the Italian was again stronger.