No. 7 seed Holger Rune of Denmark shook off some rust to pick up a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over 26th-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Monday in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Rune has had to play just one match to reach the fourth round. He opened the tournament with a bye, then advanced when Canada’s Milos Raonic withdrew from their second-round meeting.
Although he enjoyed the time off, Rune was eager to get back on the court.
“I felt great,” Rune said. “Finally, the wait was over. I was so eager to play. On Saturday, when I heard it was a walkover, obviously I wish (Raonic) all the best. I really wanted to play, but that’s how it is. I just got two extra practice days, which is good, and managed to come in in good shape (Monday).”
Rune won 31 of 38 first-serve points and collected 24 winners to Musetti’s 15.
Now Rune is off to face 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over No. 19 seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina on Monday. Fritz was the Indian Wells champion in 2022.
Frenchman Gael Monfils also advanced to the round of 16, rallying past Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, the No. 28 seed, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Monfils saved a whopping 18 of 20 break points in the first set despite falling into an early hole. He then faced a 3-0 deficit in the second set but wound up prevailing in a tiebreaker. Monfils won the last three games of the final set to complete the comeback.
“I’ve been working hard and you’re ready for anything to come your way,” Monfils said. “I was battling hard, and Cam played really good, better than me at the beginning, so I had to change, I had to think about it, I had to improve. I was happy that physically I could stay with him and even at the end I felt good.”
No. 17 seed Tommy Paul of the United States ousted French 14th seed Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-4.
Other winners included No. 9 seed Casper Ruud of Norway and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, the No. 13 seed.
Two more matches were scheduled for later Monday, with top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic opposing Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi before fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia faces 29th-seeded Sebastian Korda of the United States.
–Field Level Media