Sabalenka turns on Indian Wells cruise-control

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, defeated Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2 to move into the last 16 of the Indian Wells WTA 1000 in California on Monday.

The victory means Sabalenka is now through to her 27th WTA 1000 fourth round since the start of the 2020 season.

Sabalenka, ranked No 1, will play lucky loser Sonay Kartal next.

The Belarusian won against American McCartney Kessler (7-6 (4), 6-3) in the previous round of the Indian Wells tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Bronzetti, ranked No 62, won against Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (6-4, 7-5) and Pole Magdalena Frech, the No 30 seed (6-3, 7-5).

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other third-round results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Jaqueline Cristian vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Emma Navarro vs. Donna Vekic
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Liudmila Samsonova: monday
• Belinda Bencic (WC) beat Diana Shnaider (13): 6-4, 6-4
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Maria Sakkari (29): 7-6 (1), 6-2
• Sonay Kartal beat Polina Kudermetova: 7-5, 6-3
• Madison Keys (5) beat Elise Mertens (28): 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (8) beat Lulu Sun: 6-4, 7-5
• Mirra Andreeva (9) beat Clara Tauson (22): 6-3, 6-0
• Elina Svitolina (23) beat Danielle Collins (14): 6-2, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-2, 6-1
• Karolina Muchova (15) beat Katerina Siniakova: 7-5, 6-1
• Elena Rybakina (7) beat Katie Boulter (25): 6-0, 7-5
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Dayana Yastremska: 6-0, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Caroline Dolehide (WC): 6-3, 6-3