Jannik Sinner and Jasmine Paolini are in the round of 16 of Indian Wells, the Masters 1000 on Californian hard courts. The world number two South Tyrolean defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov (n.39 ATP) in the third round with a score of 6-3, 6-2, gained in an hour and 13 minutes of play, and tomorrow he will face the 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca. The Tuscan tennis player beat the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-1, in 2 hours and 19 minutes of play. On Tuesday Paolini will face another Australian: Talia Gibson, n. 112 in the world coming from the qualifiers. Flavio Cobolli was out, beaten in two sets by Frances Tiafoe, world number 22, 6-1, 6-2 in just 68 minutes.
Sinner equaled the 96 victories in the Masters 1000 of Fabio Fognini, the Italian with the most matches won in this category of tournaments since 1990, when they were introduced into the ATP calendar. «It wasn’t an easy third round for me – admitted the 24 year old from San Candido – Denis is left-handed, and this already complicates the match, then he is a player of great quality who has achieved great successes and is in good shape. I started badly, immediately down a break, but I’m happy with how I managed the situation and how I raised my level.”
Tomorrow he will face Fonseca who beat Tommy Paul. “Facing players like Sinner is exactly what we work for every day: playing against the best in the world,” said the 19-year-old Brazilian.