Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz battle on but fiery Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells defence ends

INDIAN WELLS – Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz were both made to work hard before reaching the fourth round of Indian Wells on Monday, but defending women's champion Mirra Andreeva crashed out and let her frustrations boil over on court.

Third seed Djokovic overcame a second-set reverse to beat American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and reach the last 16 for the first time since 2017, setting up a clash with holder Jack Draper, who swept past Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion, who has claimed a record-equalling five titles at the Californian desert event, said that he had been managing a forearm problem for the past two weeks.

"It's a bit odd. The more I serve, the better I feel, but it comes on and off if I get cold," Djokovic told Tennis Channel. "If I don't serve for five or six minutes then I feel like the first couple of serves of that game are a bit painful. I'm working through it. It's not something I haven't faced before.

"I'm trying to manage my body and mental state on a daily basis so I can be peaking as much as I possibly can on a given day. It's not going to get easier... Draper is next and playing at a high level again, but I love the challenge."

Britain's Draper, playing his second event after an arm injury of his own, was in commanding form as he breezed through the opening set before enduring a stiff challenge from his Argentine opponent in the second.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz was also tested by Arthur Rinderknech and faced the threat of losing his first match of the year after dropping the first set and his serve early in the second, but the world No. 1 recovered to prevail 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-2.

The Spaniard rolled his ankle midway through the contest but shrugged off the injury scare and pulled level, before switching gears to improve his record in 2026 to 14-0.

“Really happy that I was able to turn things around,” he said.

“In the beginning I was a little bit mad with myself because I just had a lot of chances in the first set, a few break points, set point, and I couldn’t make it.

“I got in trouble to be honest. But I’m just really happy with the way that I just dealt with everything that was happening, accepted it, kept going, stayed strong mentally.”

Up next for the two-time champion is Casper Ruud, who downed Rinderknech's cousin Valentin Vacherot 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

A trio of top-10 players were sent packing.

Britain’s Cameron Norrie ousted sixth-ranked Australian Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4, Alex Michelsen beat seventh-ranked fellow American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) and Australian qualifier Rinki Hijikata, ranked 117th in the world, shocked 10th-ranked Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Katerina Siniakova caused the biggest upset of the day in the women's draw by beating Andreeva 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, prompting the defending champion to throw her racket towards her chair and storm off the court after shouting at a section of the crowd.

"There were a lot of emotions that I was going through after the loss," said Andreeva, who also smashed a racket earlier. "But of course I'm not really proud of how I managed it... Those are the things that I really need to work on soon. Not in the future but whenever I get the chance."

Second seed Iga Swiatek, twice champion at Indian Wells, overpowered Maria Sakkari with a commanding 6-3, 6-2 win but it was the end of the road for American Madison Keys who crashed 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 against Briton Sonay Kartal.

Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-4.

Fifth seed Jessica Pegula kept the flag flying for United States by recovering to defeat former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and step into the fourth round. REUTERS, AFP

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