Sinner cruises past Kokkinakis, Murray falls in Indian Wells' second round

Jannik Sinner defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-3, 6-0, to advance to the third round of Indian Wells and extend his winning streak this season to 13 matches, while Andy Murray lost to Andrey Rublev and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced on Friday.

Sizzling Sinner remained hot on center court under sunny but breezy skies in the California desert, overcoming a break point at 2-2 in the first set with a forehand winner and breaking serve for a 5-3 lead.

After winning the first set, the Australian Open champion never looked back, dropping only five points in the second set to book a third-round match against either 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff or Croatian Borna Coric.

Sinner, despite winning 26 of his last 27 matches, insisted that he is not invincible.

"I'm not unbeatable, I'm just well-prepared," he told reporters.

"I worked really hard to be in this position. Obviously it's a position you dream of because winning a Grand Slam, that's everyone's dream, but you travel here, the conditions are different and then you have to find a way somehow."

Rublev committed numerous errors in the first set against the veteran Scot, forcing him to save four set points while his opponent benefited from the crowd's support at Stadium 2.

However, Rublev found his forehand range and cruised through the second set, winning 7-6(3) 6-1. In the third round, the Russian will face Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic, seeded 32nd.

"He had a lot of chances in the first set and I was lucky to win. Had I lost it, it would have been really, really tough,” Rublev said.

"After the first set, I felt more confidence and I knew that it would be even tougher for Andy to keep up his consistency."

Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed, overcame a sluggish start to defeat Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 6-7(5) 6-0 6-1, kicking off his title defense in the California desert.

The Spaniard did not drop a set on his way to the Indian Wells title a year ago, but he dumped a backhand into the net to hand the first set to a fired-up Arnaldi under the lights on center court.

Alcaraz, however, quickly found his rhythm, playing the powerful and creative tennis that has propelled him to two Grand Slam titles and fan favourite status.

"I was nervous in the first set," Alcaraz told reporters.

"That makes me at some points move different or with less energy. But in the second and the third sets it was totally different."

"My good game comes out when my energy is so high," he added.

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev and 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced in straight sets, while rising American Ben Shelton rallied from behind to defeat Czech Jakub Mensik 4-6 6-3 6-4 in other second round action.

SportsLigue