Alcaraz, Sinner and Swiatek advance; Murray ousted

Carlos Alcaraz

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz got off to a stuttering start in his ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters title defence on Friday but turned the tables to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5/7), 6-0, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek led the charge into the third round with identical runaway scorelines on Friday. But there was no joy for former No. 1 Andy Murray, who suffered a 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 loss to fifth seed Andrey Rublev to exit the event where he lost the 2009 final to Rafael Nadal.

Australian Open champion Sinner dominated Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-0, while women's World No. 1 Swiatek did the same to American Danielle Collins. Italy's Sinner, seeded third, backed up his debut Grand Slam title in Melbourne with a victory in the ATP 500 level tournament at Rotterdam last month.

He remains undefeated this season and completed a 13th consecutive match victory while improving to 4-0 over Kokkinakis. Sinner has won his last 15 meetings with Aussie opponents, last losing to one three years ago in Toronto.

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