At Indian Wells, the shocking defeat suffered by Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur has been eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open in the round of 16. The Argentinian stunned an out-of-sorts De Minaur on Wednesday by winning 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. De Minaur had chances against the No. 25 seed, but he only used three of 14 break points to win, while Cerundolo won all but one of his seven break points to win in straight sets. In a way that wasn’t typical, the world number 10 had a hard time finding his range from the baseline as well. In the one hour and fifty minutes of the match, he made 39 mistakes without intending to and only won nine games. After saving a set point on serve at 5-5 in the first set, Cerundolo turned the tables on the 26-year-old De Minaur and won the match. De Minaur knocked Cerundolo out of the Australian Open in four sets and came into this clash in ominous form as he marched into the last 16 without dropping a set. Still, it is the Argentinian who will now advance to a fifth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
“I am super happy, I knew it was going to be a battle today,” Cerundolo said. “Alex is an excellent fighter and player. He is a player in the top 10 and is having great years. In Australia, we fought, and it went his way. I had another chance and a match today, and I think I did very well. I am super happy to beat a high-quality player and be in the quarter-finals in Indian Wells.”
The fit Cerundolo will face either the two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or the 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight a month after reaching the ATP final in Buenos Aires. Jack Draper won a match to advance to the quarterfinals, defeating third-seeded Taylor Fritz in straight sets. The American 11th seed Ben Shelton defeated Brandon Nakashima 7-6, 6-1, and will now face Draper. From late in the first set, Draper won seven games to win 7-5 6-4.
