Indian Wells: De Minaur makes last 16 after Bublik fades

Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 10 seed, beat Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 20 seed, 7-5, 6-0 to move into the last 16 of the Indian Wells Masters at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Sunday evening.

While the opening set was a tight contest, De Minaur ultimately ran away with the match in the second set thanks to some wayward serving from Bublik. The Kazakh rained down 10 double faults across the one hour, 27 minute encounter, winning just 15 percent of his second serves.

“It’s never easy playing Bublik out here,” De Minaur said after the match. “I’m happy to be still in the tournament and playing some good tennis. He’s such a tough guy to play because he at times takes the racquet out of your hands, he’ll bait you into making mistakes. He’s had a great year, played a lot of matches, so I’m happy with the win.”

Overall, Bublik struck 13 winners to 24 unforced errors, while De Minaur’s number were much tidier, making 20 winners to eight unforced errors. The Aussie now reaches the fourth round of Indian Wells for the third time.

“I’m just happy to put myself in the position,” said De Minaur, who has never advanced beyond the fourth round in Indian Wells. “Got to focus on the next one now, and keep getting better and better.”

De Minaur, ranked No 10, will face the winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev, the No 6 seed, and Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, the No 27 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, the Australian won against Japanese Taro Daniel (6-1, 6-2).

Bublik, ranked No 20, won against Chinese qualifier Juncheng Shang (6-4, 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):

• Ben Shelton vs. Francisco Cerundolo
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Holger Rune
• Taylor Fritz vs. Sebastian Baez
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Sebastian Korda
• Cameron Norrie vs. Gael Monfils
• Casper Ruud vs. Arthur Fils
• Tommy Paul vs. Ugo Humbert
• Novak Djokovic vs. Luca Nardi
• Andrey Rublev vs. Jiri Lehecka
• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Jannik Sinner
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Carlos Alcaraz: sunday
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (11) beat Frances Tiafoe (18): 6-3, 6-3
• Fabian Marozsan beat Thiago Seyboth Wild (Q): 6-2, 6-2