Swiatek dominates at BNP Paribas Open; Murray advances

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek routed Claire Liu in 65 minutes to win her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday.

Swiatek, the defending champion who took over the No. 1 ranking nearly a year ago, won 6-0, 6-1.

Taylor Fritz, the defending men’s champion, rallied past Ben Shelton, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Jannik Sinner defeated Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 7-6 (2). The 21-year-old Sinner fired 20 forehand winners against the 36-year-old veteran.

“Obviously it was a tough match today, especially in the beginning I was a little bit tight,” Sinner said on court.

Another 21-year-old, Jack Draper, beat No. 24 Dan Evans, 6-4, 6-2. Draper has lost just eight games through his first two matches of his Indian Wells debut.

Andy Murray beat Radu Albot, 6-4, 6-3 in his first straight-set victory of the year to set up a third-round match with Draper. Murray had just 18 unforced errors to 35 for Albot, and never faced a break point on his serve.

“I felt very nervous today. I’m not sure exactly why,” Murray said in an on-court interview. ”Obviously, I’ve played a lot of tennis coming in, maybe I saw it was an opportunity for me. Maybe wasn’t as well-prepared.”

No. 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the third round with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Pedro Martinez.

Emma Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, beat No. 20 Magda Linette, 7-6 (3), 6-2. Linette, a semifinalist at the Australian Open, got an early service break, but Raducanu jumped on her serve and tied it, 5-all, before forcing the tiebreaker.

No. 5 Carolina Garcia outlasted Dalma Galfi, 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-4.

Karolina Muchova beat two-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka, 7-6 (1), 6-3 while attacking the net in swirling wind conditions. Muchova is back after injuries curtailed her last year.

Other seeded players joining Azarenka on the sidelines were No. 25 Petra Martic and No. 28 Marie Bouzkova.

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