Jannik Sinner was pushed to the maximum during an Indian Wells round of 16 duel against João Fonseca. The Italian, World No. 2, took both sets in very close tie-breaks, 7-6(6), 7-6(4), saving three set points in the first tie breaks and bouncing back from 5-2 down in the second tie-break.
While 24-year-old Sinner took the first win in the head to head against 19-year-old Fonseca, the match did not disappoint, and further cemented the Brazilian teenager as a rising star in tennis, with many predicting that he is currently the best suited to disrupt the "duopoly" between Alcaraz and Sinner in men's tennis.
"The atmosphere has been amazing, so I'm very happy about today's match", said Sinner, although there was an incident rarely seen with the usually calmed transalpine player, when he went to the stands to protest that an spectator was speaking too much. The chair umpire went down to try and calm the player
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Indian Wells matches tonight Wednesday, March 11
Rinky Hijikata vs Cameron Norrie: 19:00 CET, 18.00 GMT
Daniil Medvedev vs. Alex Michelsen: 21.00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Carlos Alcaraz vs. Casper Ruud: 21:20 CET, 20:20 GMT
Novak Djokovic vs. Jack Draper: 02:00 CET, 01:00 GMT on Thursday
Quarter-finals will follow on Thursday, with the confirmed duels between Learner Tien and Jannik Sinner and Arthur Fils vs. Alexander Zverev.