Pospisil sends Murray packing at Indian Wells

Pospisil delivered the knockout punch in style, whipping a crosscourt winner on his fourth match point in front of the near capacity crowd at Indian Wells that included former boxing champion Mike Tyson. Pospisil, ranked 129th in the world, was rewarded for his aggressive approach, rushing the net whenever the opportunity arose and pouncing on Murray’s second serve. 

Earlier, Italian Fabi Fognini won a battle of expectant fathers when he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(4) 3-6 6-4. In another upset on Saturday, Japanese world number 70 Yoshihito Nishioka beat Croatian veteran Ivo Karlovic 6-4 6-3, but seeds Dominic Thiem, David Goffin and Tomas Berdych won their matches to advance.

Angelique Kerber, who will reclaim the world number one ranking on Monday, breezed to a 6-2 6-1 second-round victory over fellow German Andrea Petkovic. Second-seed Kerber broke Petkovic to open the match and needed only 58 minutes to claim the victory in glaring sunshine in the California desert. Fourth seed Simona Halep also won emphatically, 6-4 6-1 over Donna Vekic. Jankovic raced through the first set and seemed poised for an upset, but the second set tiebreak proved pivotal, as Williams survived, staving off three match points en route to a 1-6 7-6(5) 6-1 victory. Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki also advanced, the 13th seeded Dane turning back qualifier Magda Linette of Poland 6-3 6-0.

Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova scored a straight sets win to enter the women’s doubles quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open 2017 tennis tournament here.

The Indo-Czech pair needed around 64 minutes to beat Sara Errani of Italy and Alicja Rosolska of Poland 6-2, 6-3. Sania and her partner were stronger with their serve, hitting three aces, while Errani and Rosolska committed three double faults. But Indian fans faced disappointment in the men’s doubles as Leander Paes and his Argentine partner Juan Martin del Potro went down 3-6, 4-6 to American Sam Querrey and Gilles Müller of Luxembourg. Querrey and Muller smashed six aces against just two by Paes-Potro to chalk out a win in just over an hour.