The round of 128 in Indian Wells is complete, and it featured another Andy Murray match that went the distance, a couple of minor upsets and some lopsided scorelines.
Elsewhere Dominic Thiem failed to make the most of his wildcard, falling to the tricky Adrian Mannarino.
However, he at least showed some signs of his best tennis but couldn’t rely on his forehand in the more important moments as he lost a topsy-turvy encounter 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Brandon Nakashima won the all-American battle to take out 2012 finalist John Isner, and he faces Daniil Medvedev in round 2.
7 of the 12 qualifiers also progressed in the round of 64, along with lucky loser Alexie Popyrin to give themselves a decent payday.
You can see all the first-round results below:
Round of 128 Indians Wells 2023 Results
Winner
Loser
Score
Pedro Cachin
Nikoloz Basilashvili
7-5, 6-3
(Q) Taro Daniel
Roberto Carballes Baena
6-1, 7-5
Jack Draper
(Q) Leandro Riedi
6-1, 6-1
Marton Fucsovics
J.J. Wolf
1-6, 6-0, 6-3
(Q) Cristian Garin
Daniel Elahi Galan
6-4, 6-2
Richard Gasquet
(Q) Borna Gojo
6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2
Marcos Giron
(WC) Aleksandar Kovacevic
6-3, 7-5
(Q) Rinky Hijikata
Mikael Ymer
6-4, 7-5
Ugo Humbert
Bernabe Zapata Miralles
6-2, 7-6(6)
Ilya Ivashka
Roman Safiullin
6-4, 6-2
(Q) Thanasi Kokkinakis
(WC) Brandon Holt
6-4, 6-1
Jason Kubler
Lorenzo Sonego
6-4, 7-6(4)
Jiri Lehecka
Arthur Rinderknech
7-6(4), 7-5
Adrian Mannarino
(WC) Dominic Thiem
4-6, 6-4, 7-65
Pedro Martinez
Marc-Andrea Huesler
7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4
Mackenzie McDonald
Filip Krajinovic
6-3, 6-0
Alex Molcan
Albert Ramos-Vinolas
6-3, 6-2
Andy Murray
Tomas Martin Etcheverry
6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4
Brandon Nakashima
John Isner
7-6(7), 6-3
Oscar Otte
Laslo Djere
6-3, 7-5
(PR) Guido Pella
Thiago Monteiro
3-6, 7-5, 6-2
(LL) Alexei Popyrin
(Q) Zhizhen Zhang
6-4, 5-7, 6-1
Emil Ruusuvuori
Constant Lestienne
6-4, 4-1 (RET)
Diego Schwartzman
Federico Coria
6-1, 6-2
Ben Shelton
Fabio Fognini
6-4, 6-1
(WC) Jack Sock
Gregoire Barrere
6-4, 6-2
(Q) Jan-Lennard Struff
Quentin Halys
1-6, -63, 6-3
(Q) Alejandro Tabilo
(Q) Maximilian Marterer
6-4, 6-3
Jordan Thompson
(PR) Gael Monfils
6-3, 6-1
(PR) Stan Wawrinka
(Q) Aleksandar Vukic
6-4, 1-6, 6-1
(WC) Yibing Wu
Jaume Munar
6-7(6), 6-0, 7-6(3)
(Q) Tung-Lin Wu
Alexander Bublik
6-4, 6-4
Match of the Opening Round
Can Andy Murray play a match that doesn’t go the distance? That seems unlikely as he’s played in seven of them so far this reason, his most recent to beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4.
This time around, Murray didn’t need to save match points, and whereas in previous matches, he arguably got quite lucky to come through, this time, he was the better player as he got to grips with the in-form Etcheverry’s game to progress in three hours and 12 minutes.
His reward is a second-round meeting with 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta, and surprisingly, they’ve never played each other before.
Murray is holding up physically much better than I’d ever imagined, and although it’s not ideal to have to grind out every single match what he’s doing is impressive and it will be interesting to see if he can still play well on grass later this year.
Murray vs Etcheverry Highlights
Controversial Moment
Tennis wouldn’t be tennis without at least one controversial umpiring moment, and this one came in the match between Wu Yibing and Jaume Munar.
On match point, Wu pulled off a diving volley but dropped his racket when breaking his fall; the racket then touched the net while the ball was still in play.
By the letter of the law, Munar should have won the point, and I think the umpire should have enforced that rule.
Many are making the argument that Munar was nowhere near the volley, so it doesn’t matter, but I don’t think you can start bringing discretion into it. What do you think?
Round of 64 Matches
Carlos Alcaraz vs Thanasi Kokkinakis
Guido Pella vs Tallon Griekspooor
Danial Evans vs Jack Draper
Andy Murray vs Palbo Carreno Busta
Hubert Hurkacz vs Alexie Popytin
Jan-Lennard Struff vs Tommy Paul
Francisco Cerundolo vs Jack Sock
Pedro Martinez vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
Taylor Fritz vs Ben Shelton
Rinky Hijikata vs Sebastian Baez
Borna Coric vs Alez Molcan
Marton Fucsovics vs Alex de Minaru
Jannik Sinner vs Richard Gasquet
Adrian Mannarino vs Lorenzo Musetti
Miomir Kecmanovic vs Stan Wawrinka
Mackenzie McDonald vs Holger Rune
Danill Medvedev vs Brandon Nakashima
Ilya Ivashka vs Botic van de Zandschulp
Roberto Bautista Agut vs Emil Ruusuvuori
Pedro Cachina vs Alexander Zverev
Karen Khachanov vs Oscar Otte
Yibing Wu vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Yoshihito Nishioka vs Cristian Garin
Diego Schwartzman vs Capser Ruud
Andrey Rublev vs Jiri Lehecka
Ugo Humbert vs Denis Shapovalov
Matteo Berrettini vs Taro Daniel
Tung-Lin Wu vs Cameron Norrie
Frances Tiafoe vs Marcos Giron
Jason Kubler vs Grigor Dimitrov
Maxime Cressy vs Alejandro Tabilo
Jordan Thompson vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
Which second-round matches are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments.
