Indian Wells, March 15 (BNA): World number one Daniel Medvedev lost his place in the world after losing to Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the third round of Indian Wells on Monday, while Rafa Nadal beat Britain’s Daniel Evans. 7-5 6-3 to remain undefeated in 2022.
Monfils roared as he upset the sixth point of the game against the beloved California crowd with a backhand kick to set up a meeting with Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round, Reuters reported.
“I’m so happy now — I’m in my zone,” Moonves said. “It moved well and then changed pace a lot.”
France’s Medvedev gave the break in the ninth game of the first set with a pair of double faults and two forehand faults, as the US Open champion squandered just four points off his serve in the opening match.
But Medvedev lost momentum in the second set, and was unable to exploit five of his six break points.
Monfils broke it in the fourth with a backhand and again in the eighth with a fiery forehand.
To overcome the apparent fatigue, Monfils won the first four matches of the final set as Medvedev could not get a single break point chance.
It was the first time in 13 years that the 35-year-old Monfils had beaten the world’s number one ranked player.
Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic is expected to return to the top of the world rankings when they are updated.
Nadal sent Evans to packing up a routine victory to extend his unbeaten streak this year to 17-0 after winning the record-breaking 21 Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
After an early break, the Spaniard tied the score in the eighth game and Evans broke again to close out the first set and take advantage of the momentum.
He squandered only two first serve points in the second set, cracking his opponent early and capping his 400th Masters win with a forehand before sending his hands into the air to cheers from the crowd.
He reached the fourth round after making an impressive comeback in three sets on Saturday against American Sebastian Korda and said after the match that he was happy to wrap up Monday’s relationship in an orderly fashion.
“I am happy to be able to continue in the tournament,” Nadal said. “I think after a few games I played better and better.”
In other matches in the men’s team, Alcaraz defeated Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-0.