American Marcos Giron rallied past No. 26 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 Sunday to advance to the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Giron’s win came one round after he upset No. 4 seed Casper Ruud of Norway. The California native is thrilled to be playing as well as he is on home soil.
“There’s a lot of family, there’s a lot of friends, trying to organize tickets and all that, give everybody the time they deserve is amazing and it’s special,” Giron told reporters. “This is not something I can do forever. So I know each kind of moment is I’ve got to make the most of it. But I’m here for the tournament, for the job, and I love it. I want to perform.”
Giron, 31, finally broke through for his first ATP title last July in Newport, R.I. On Sunday, he saved a remarkable 14 of 15 break points to overcome Popyrin, who had a 31-25 advantage in winners and one fewer unforced error.
Also Sunday, No. 10 seed Tommy Paul made sure another American man would reach the Round of 16 when he swept Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-3, 7-5. It was Paul’s 50th career match win at the ATP Masters 1000 level.
No. 8 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece needed just 68 minutes to beat Italian 28th seed Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3.
Meanwhile, No. 12 seed Holger Rune of Denmark mirrored Giron’s battle from a set down when he defeated No. 18 Ugo Humbert of France 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours and 35 minutes.
Rune saved 7 of 10 break points and trailed 5-4 in the third set before easily winning the final three games. Rune and Tsitsipas will meet in the fourth round.
“Nothing was easy today from my side,” Rune said. “I was digging deep and finding solutions. Timing wasn’t there at the beginning but I think my mentality is what got me through today.”
No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia led 2-0 when American 31st seed Alex Michelsen retired 10 minutes into the match due to illness. Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands upset No. 29 seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Two more matches were completed Sunday night. No. 20 seed Arthur Fils of France defeated No. 15 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in three sets 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, while Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki upset No. 16 seed Frances Tiafoe in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (6).
–Field Level Media
