Lehecka gains revenge for last year, upsets Rublev in Indian Wells

No 32 seed Jiri Lehecka won against Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last 16 of the Indian Wells Masters at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Sunday night.

The pair met in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open last year, with Rublev prevailing in straight sets. This time, however, it was Lehecka who had the upper hand. The Czech struck an impressive 31 winners to just eight unforced errors, taking the racquet out of Rublev’s hand in the third round encounter.

Lehecka, ranked No 32, will play Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 11 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, Jiri Lehecka edged out American wildcard Brandon Nakashima (3-6, 6-3, 6-4).

Rublev, ranked No 5, defeated Andy Murray (7-6 (3), 6-1) in the previous round of the Indian Wells Tennis Masters.

Indian Wells Masters 1000, other third-round results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 9.495.555, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Sebastian Korda
• Novak Djokovic vs. Luca Nardi
• Taylor Fritz vs. Sebastian Baez
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Casper Ruud vs. Arthur Fils
• Tommy Paul vs. Ugo Humbert
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Holger Rune
• Cameron Norrie vs. Gael Monfils
• Ben Shelton vs. Francisco Cerundolo
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Jannik Sinner (3) beat Jan-Lennard Struff (25): 6-3, 6-4
• Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (31): 6-2, 6-3
• Alex De Minaur (10) beat Alexander Bublik (20): 7-5, 6-0
• Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Frances Tiafoe (18): 6-3, 6-3
• Fabian Marozsan beat Thiago Seyboth Wild (Q): 6-2, 6-2