Alex de Minaur recorded his 50th ATP Masters 1000 win on Monday at the BNP Paribas Open, where he earned a statement 6-4, 6-0 victory against Hubert Hurkacz to reach the fourth round in Indian Wells.
The ninth-seeded Australian was in ruthless mood against Hurkacz in a blistering 75-minute win. He converted all four of his break points and saved the one break point he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to advance with little trouble. De Minaur now leads Hurkacz 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with this their first meeting since 2019.
De Minaur, whose best Masters 1000 result was a final run in Toronto in 2023, has never advanced beyond the fourth round in the California desert. The No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings will aim to change that record when he takes on Francisco Cerundolo. The Argentine beat Novak Djokovic’s conqueror Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4.
De Minaur has enjoyed a good start to the season, highlighted by a first Australian Open quarter-final and a title match showing at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam. He is 15-1 against players outside the Top 20 in 2025.
Former champion Taylor Fritz recovered from a slow start to overcome Alejandro Tabilo 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
The third seed, who captured the biggest title of his career in Indian Wells in 2022, committed 43 unforced errors to 32 winners against Tabilo in a topsy-turvy performance. But he did hit with more consistency and found greater rhythm on his serve in the third set to advance after one hour and 54 minutes and improve his record on Stadium 2 to 7-0.
“I just tried to cut down on the mistakes,” Fritz said in his on-court interview. “I was making more random, no reason mistakes than I possibly could have thought. Even with me giving him a lot of free points, I still felt it was pretty close for the first set and a half. I just had to clean it up and be more solid. I just needed to be more solid.”
Fritz has struggled to find his best level in recent weeks, falling in his second match in Dallas and Delray Beach. The World No. 4 will aim to continue to improve on home soil in Indian Wells, where he next takes on British lefty Jack Draper.
Fritz holds a 4-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage against Tabilo, who snapped a seven-match losing streak when he defeated Dusan Lajovic in his opener on Saturday.
There was also success for another American, Brandon Nakashima, on Day 6 in Indian Wells. The World No. 33 eliminated Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes to reach the fourth round at the hard-court event for the first time.
Nakashima is in good form, having advanced to the semi-finals in Acapulco earlier this month. Next up for the 23-year-old in California is Ben Shelton or Karen Khachanov.