Tennis: Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz move forward in Indian Wells; Rublev out

Third seeded Jannik Sinner earned his 17th straight match win Sunday (March 10) with a defeat of 25th-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff while fifth seeded Russian Andrey Rublev was sent packing by Czech 32nd seed Jiri Lehecka.

Italian Sinner needed just 74 minutes to get past German Struff 6-3 6-4 and will next face 16th seed Ben Shelton or 22nd seed Francisco Cerundolo, who meet in Sunday's late night match in the California desert.

Lehecka, the lowest seeded player on the men's side at 32, converted nine aces to Rublev's one and took advantage of two of his four break chances to win 6-4 6-4 and advance to a Round of 16 meeting with 11th seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz moves ahead too

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz booked his spot in the Indian Wells Open last 16 following a straight sets victory against Canadian 31st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday (March 10).

The Spanish second seed eased to a 6-2 6-3 win and will next meet Hungary’s Florian Marozsan, who dispatched Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-2 6-2. Alcaraz suffered a surprise 6-3 7-6(4) loss to Marozsan in their only previous meeting last year in Rome on clay.

Australian 10th seed Alex de Minaur defeated 20th seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 7-5 6-0, while Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, seeded 11th, got the better of American hopeful and 18th seed Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-3.