Rublev crashes out of Indian Wells as Paul grabs biggest win of career

World No 5 Andrey Rublev crashed out of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells as the USA’s Tommy Paul secured the biggest win of his career so far, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

The two are near-exact contemporaries – both born in 1997. However, Paul’s career-high ranking came earlier this year when he reached world No 50. His previous best win came last year when he defeated another 1997 baby – Alexander Zverev, in Acapulco, 6-3, 6-4.

In California, the Russian served six aces and four double faults compared to Paul’s five aces and five double faults – but the key difference was the American taking five of his 11 break-point opportunities, where the tournament’s fourth seed took four of his 14 chances.

Paul failed to serve it out once, with match point at 5-3 in the third set, but said afterwards that he had not dwelt on it.

“I’m not thinking too much. I was pretty happy to be out there, so it wasn’t like the end of the world getting broken there,” he told ATPTour.com. “I had match point and obviously I wanted to win the match there, but I felt comfortable throughout the match.”

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Tennis Majors

This is the first time Paul has reached the round of 16 at a Masters event, where he will next play Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie. He got his 43rd win of the season as he defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.