Indian Wells: Alcaraz reaches third round, plays Griekspoor next

US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed from Spain, defeated Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-3 to move into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters on Saturday evening.

Alcaraz was playing his first hardcourt match of the year. The Spaniard missed the Australian Open due to a leg injury and then also pulled out of the Acapulco Open after winning in Buenos Aires and reaching the final in Rio de Janeiro.

This was the 19-year-old’s first outdoor hardcourt match since lifting his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in September.

Alcaraz, ranked No 2 in the world and with a chance to overtake the absent Novak Djokovic and become world No 1 in the coming weeks, will play Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, the No 31 seed, next.

In the previous round of the Indian Wells Tennis Masters, Kokkinakis, ranked No 94, won against American wildcard Brandon Holt (6-4, 6-1).

Indian Wells Masters, other second-round matches (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8,800,000):

• Holger Rune (7) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 7-5, 6-3
• Sebastian Baez (30) beat Rinky Hijikata (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Hubert Hurkacz (9) beat Alexei Popyrin (LL): 6-3, 6-3
• Adrian Mannarino beat Lorenzo Musetti (19): 6-4, 6-4
• Taylor Fritz (4) beat Ben Shelton: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Guido Pella: 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4)
• Francisco Cerundolo (27) beat Jack Sock (WC): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Andy Murray beat Radu Albot (LL): 6-4, 6-3
• Marton Fucsovics beat Alex De Minaur (16): 6-4, 6-2
• Tommy Paul (17) beat Jan-Lennard Struff (Q): 6-3, 6-3
• Alex Molcan beat Borna Coric (18): 6-3, 6-3
• Stan Wawrinka beat Miomir Kecmanovic (26): 7-6 (8), 6-4
• Jannik Sinner (11) beat Richard Gasquet: 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (8) beat Pedro Martinez: 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Jack Draper beat Daniel Evans (24): 6-4, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Jiri Lehecka: 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (14) beat Marcos Giron: 6-2, 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (5) beat Brandon Nakashima: 6-4, 6-3
• Karen Khachanov (13) beat Oscar Otte: 6-3, 6-3
• Taro Daniel (Q) beat Matteo Berrettini (20): 7-6 (5), 0-6, 6-3
• Ugo Humbert beat Denis Shapovalov (25): 7-5, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (12) beat Pedro Cachin: 6-3, 6-1
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (23) beat Yibing Wu (WC): 6-4, 6-1
• Alejandro Tabilo (Q) beat Maxime Cressy (32): 7-6 (3), 7-6 (13)
• Jason Kubler beat Grigor Dimitrov (21): 2-6, 7-6 (5), 3-0 ret.
• Jordan Thompson beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (2): 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5)
• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Roberto Bautista Agut (22): 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Casper Ruud (3) beat Diego Schwartzman: 6-2, 6-3
• Ilya Ivashka beat Botic van de Zandschulp (28): 7-5, 3-2 ret.
• Cameron Norrie (10) beat Tung-lin Wu: 6-2, 6-4
• Cristian Garin (Q) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (29): 6-4, 6-0

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