The time of the first: how far will Andreeva and Medvedev be able to walk in Indian Wells

Russian tennis leaders Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev almost synchronously — with a difference of several hours — stepped into the second week of the super tournament in Indian Wells. The 17-year-old Russian defeated Clara Towson from Denmark for the second time in two weeks, and the first racket of our men's ranking returned the favor for withdrawing from the quarterfinals of Doha 2025 — Daniil's opponent Alex Mikelsen played only two games on the court, after which he refused to continue the fight due to health problems. Now Mirra's former compatriot Elena Rybakina, who now plays for Kazakhstan, is waiting in the fourth round. And Medvedev will play with the tenth seed of this Masters, Tommy Paul. Daniel defeated this American in the Indian Wells semifinals a year ago.

On record

Two weeks ago, Andreeva defeated Towson in the final of the "thousandth" in Dubai (7:6, 6:1), having won his first major title on the WTA tour. Of course, in California, Clara was preparing for a rematch, but the texture of the match as a whole repeated what had previously happened on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The Dane got off to a good start, but Myrrh gradually gained ground, and soon her advantage became undeniable. Starting from the end of the first game, the Russian won eight games in a row, completely demoralizing her more experienced opponent. Towson's 31 unforced errors during an hour—long match is a lot. With her second victory in Indian Wells in a week, Andreeva extended her successful streak to eight matches. According to this indicator, she is the youngest player in the history of the "millennials" since the introduction of this tournament format in 2009.

Continuing with the numbers, Mirra now has 15 wins this season. Only Towson and Igi Sventek have more (16 each). Even world number one Arina Sobolenko has won only 14 times so far. However, these are all statistics that will constantly change during this "millennial". More importantly, her success in the third round of Indian Wells allowed Andreeva to beat Spaniard Paola Campos in the online rankings and return to the top ten of the best tennis players.

Our young star can build on her success in the fourth round in a match against 2023 BNP Paribas Open champion and former world number one Elena Rybakina. The representative of Kazakhstan is going through difficult times due to the situation with her personal trainer, but she is still very dangerous.

— It won't be easy. I beat her in three sets in Dubai. (6:4, 4:6, 6:3), — Andreeva reminded about her confrontation with Elena in an interview on the court. — She has already won this tournament, so she is quite comfortable here. She serves powerfully and plays aggressively. So I'll do my best to keep her from playing. Let's see who turns out to be stronger.

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To this politically correct comment, it should be added that Mirra is now one of the main stars of the "thousandth" in Indian Wells, and the sympathy of the public in the confrontation with Rybakina will surely be on the side of the native of Krasnoyarsk. But if Mirra reaches the quarterfinals, local star Jessica Pegula may be her opponent, and then the Russian will also be under pressure from the stands.

Among the Russians, Diana Schneider (who will play with Olympic champion Belinda Bencic), Polina Kudermetova (21-year-old Russian will face Sonya Kartal), and Daria Kasatkina and Lyudmila Samsonova will determine the participant of the 1/8 finals in a face-to-face confrontation.

Get the rhythm back

Daniil Medvedev, the leader of our men's tennis, spent a minimum of effort to reach the fourth round of the Masters. The 29-year-old Russian is having a hard time entering the current season, but this time we can assume that sporting fate has returned his debt. Three weeks ago, Daniel withdrew from the quarterfinals of the Doha tournament due to food poisoning. Now, for the same reason, Alex Mickelsen refused to enter the third game. Considering that something similar recently happened to tennis players at a tournament in Mexico, it can be assumed that we are not talking about poor-quality food, but about a kind of rotavirus that circulates on the tour.

— I played a very good first round, so I was looking forward to the match with Alex. I like his style of play," Daniel said in an on—court interview. — I think we could have an interesting match. Unfortunately, there was food poisoning or something like that. In team sports, you can be replaced by another player. In case you don't feel well, there's nothing you can do. I hope he gets better soon. I'm waiting for the next match. Playing in Indian Wells is not easy, the conditions are always difficult. Before the tournament, I started to lose my rhythm, but I got it back after the first match. Now my form is getting better.

Medvedeva's service: who is the favorite of the tennis tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami

In the USA, Daniil has to defend more than a thousand points, Rublev and Khachanov are in a more comfortable position.

In the fourth round, Medvedev will face world number 11 Tommy Paul, who beat Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-3, 7-5 in the third round. Last year, Daniil defeated Paul twice — at the Masters in Rome and Indian Wells. In the latter case, there was a semi-final in which our representative lost the first game soundly and almost lost the advantage in the second set. Fortunately for Medvedev, Tommy twisted his leg during the tiebreak, after which his game fell apart (final score — 1:6, 7:6, 6:2 in favor of Daniel). Two weeks ago, the American withdrew due to poisoning at a tournament in Acapulco, but now he is fine and has adapted well to the slow hard of Indian Wells.

Of the Russians, Karen Khachanov may join Medvedev in the second week. However, the 28-year-old Muscovite faces a difficult task — to knock out the 11th seed Ben Shelton. The rivals had not met each other before. Unfortunately, Andrey Rublev left Indian Wells in the second round.

The second number of the Russian ranking managed without emotional breakdowns, but lost in two sets to the 35th racket of the world Matteo Arnaldi from Italy. This is the second consecutive defeat of our star after the title in Doha.