Seeders Medvedev and Pliskova take victory at Indian Wells | Tennis News

Seeders Daniil Medvedev and Karolina Pliskova claimed straight set wins at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday, when several lower-ranked players were eliminated.

Medvedev beat American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-2, extending his winning streak to eight games since his US Open championship last month. Medvedev never faced a breaking point against McDonald’s, which was broken three times.

“I’m actually really happy because usually I haven’t played well at Indian Wells and I haven’t played very well in practice,” said Medvedev. “I’m really happy with my performance. It’s the most important thing, no matter how I played before the tournament.

Pliskova qualified for the third round with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Magdalena Frech in the combined ATP and WTA event. Pliskova shot six aces, giving her a 387 Tour lead this year, and converted five of her six break points. 2019 Champion Bianca Andreescu defeated Alison Riske 7-6 (2), 7-5. Garbine Muguruza, fifth seed, was the highest-ranked woman to lose.

Muguruza, who won the event last week in Chicago, lost to Ajla Tomljanovic 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. It was Tomljanovic’s first victory in seven tries against a Top 10 player this year. She was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in July. Anna Kalinskaya outlasted 28th Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 and American Amanda Anisimova beat 30th Camila Giorgi 6-4, 6-1.

No.12 seed Ons Jabeur, who lost to Muguruza in the Chicago final, qualified with a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over Anastasija Sevastova for her 45th victory of the year at the top of the Tour. Coco Gauff, seeded 15th, outlasted Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1, clearing 12 aces with seven double faults. No.18 Anett Kontaveit retired 6-3, 5-2 behind Martina Trevisan. No.22 Danielle Collins stepped forward when Lauren Davis retired 6-1.

On the men’s side, No.8 Hubert Hurkacz, No.11 Diego Schwartzman, No.16 Reilly Opelka and No.18 Daniel Evans won. No.9 Denis Shapovalov was leading 3-0 when Vasek Pospisil retired. Tommy Paul beat No.28 Duasn Lajovic 6-3, 6-3 and Frances Tiafoe beat No.32 Sebastian Korda 6-0, 6-4.