Players battled tricky windy conditions in the California desert, as Americans Coco Gauff, Madison Keys and Ben Shelton gave the home fans plenty to cheer about with compelling third-round victories.
Third seed Gauff overcame late nerves to beat Greek Maria Sakkari 7-6(1), 6-2, getting over the finish line even as she produced six double faults in the final game before closing it out on her sixth match point with a forehand winner.
“Except the last game I thought I played a great match. Just trying to look at the positives,” said Gauff, who had revenge on her mind after losing to Sakkari in the semi-final last year.
“Obviously I was a bit disappointed with the last game but that’s just the perfectionist in me.”
She will next play Swiss Belinda Bencic, whom she has beaten twice before, most recently in the round of 16 in Melbourne this year.
“It was a bit tricky conditions. I think we were both struggling a little bit with finding the rhythm, and I was just trying to stay solid on my end of the court,” said Gauff.
Newly minted Australian Open champion Keys saved 12 of the 15 break points she faced to beat Belgian Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4, securing her 14th straight match victory.
The fifth seed, who lost to Mertens in their two previous meetings, fired five aces to set up a fourth-round meeting with Croatian Donna Vekic, and said she had come to expect another level from herself after her maiden major breakthrough.
“Overall in Australia I played some really good tennis, and I think the further away from it you get, the more you kind of forget about the lulls of matches and the moments where you weren’t playing great,” said Keys.
“As great as Australia was and all the wins that I got, there were still some moments in matches where I didn’t play great or things got away from me. So just being really conscious of that.”
Twenty-two-year-old Shelton got the crowd on their feet as he played with power and poise to defeat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-5, battling with blisters on his hand.
Down a break in the second set, Shelton won the final four games of the match and clinched it with one of eight aces and a mighty cheer. He will play compatriot Brandon Nakashima in the round of 16.
Belarusian World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka used her powerful serve to wallop Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-2, bringing her best form to the tournament after suffering early exits at the Qatar Open and in Dubai.
It took little time for Sabalenka to find her footing, as she sprinted through the first set and quickly recovered after dropping her serve early in the second. She will play British lucky loser Sonay Kartal next.
“It wasn’t as easy as the score looks like. It was tough conditions out there, and happy with the way I managed that,” she said.
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