Jannik Sinner advances to the fourth round of the Indian Wells Open with win over Denis Shapovalov, while Coco Gauff retires against Alexandra Eala due to arm pain. Learner Tien shocks Ben Shelton as Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka progress in the WTA draw. Check full wrap here
Indian Wells Open 2026 Round 3 Report (Image Credits: X and AFP)
The Indian Wells Open saw the World No.2 Jannik Sinner advance to the fourth round dominating Canada's Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-2 in 73 minutes. However, the American star Coco Gauff was forced to retire in her match against Alexandra Eala due to 'firework' like pain in arms.
Sinner who is looking for his maiden at Indian Wells took 2-1 lead in head-to-head record with his Round of 32 victory over the Canadian. This is the fifth time that Sinner has made it to the fourth round in this tournament in as many appearances.
Denis is a high quality-player, as we know," Sinner said. "He's an in-form player, so I'm very happy with my performance. I tried to stay solid at the baseline, but also a bit more aggressive in the second set, which helped me. It was a tough start for me, but I'm happy with how I reacted."
Sinner converted 4 of 8 on break-point opportunities, to 1 of 1 for Shapovalov, who had more unforced errors (25-11) and double faults (7-2). Sinner had the edge in aces (6-2) and won 85% of his first serves (28 of 33), to 62% (21 of 34) for his opponent.
While Sinner cruised on Sunday, World No. 8 Ben Shelton was upset by fellow American and left-hander Learner Tien 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, nine minutes in their Round-of-32 match.
The 25th-seeded Tien, making the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time, is now 2-0 at this ATP Tour level against Shelton and acknowledged that his opponent has been battling through an illness.
Tennis from another world 🌎@janniksin | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/LlxwOuP7mn
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 9, 2026
"I just want to say, Ben came out not feeling 100%," Tien said. "I don't think he's been feeling great all week, but he's an amazing competitor and he came out and gave it his all. So I just want to say, huge props to him."
Tien, 20, is from Irvine, Calif., and attended matches at this event over several years as a child growing up in Southern California. He called it "really a full-circle moment."
He actually out-aced the hard-serving Shelton, 15-8. That power came with more double faults (10-3), but Tien also had more winners (40-34) as neither player was able to break serve more than once during the match.
Another upset came from unseeded Brazilian Joao Fonseca, age 19, eliminated American Tommy Paul, the 23rd seed, 6-2, 6-3. Czech Jakub Mensik, the 12th seed, fell to 18th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Germany's Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, avoided an upset by outlasting 28th-seeded Brandon Nakashima of the United States 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4.
No. 9 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime won an All-Canadian battle with Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3. American Frances Tiafoe, seeded 21st, got the better of Italian Flavio Cobolli, the 15th seed, 6-1, 6-2.
Frenchman Arthur Fils, seeded 30th, dispatched Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-5.
On the other hand in the WTA's event. The top-seeded American at No. 4, Gauff was down 6-2, 2-0 to the 31st-seeded Eala when she withdrew in the third-round match because of pain in her left arm.
Gauff, 21, said afterward that she felt it around the second game of the first set.
"I guess a simple way to put it, it felt like a firework was going off inside of my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire," said Gauff, who retired from a match at this level only once before, in 2022 in Cincinnati.
"Yeah, we're going to figure out what it is tomorrow, but based off the feeling, being told that it's probably something nerve-related," she said. "Never had anything like this before, never felt anything, a sensation like this before.
"And then as the match played, it got progressively worse, even when I wasn't using my arm on shots that I wasn't even using my left arm for.," she continued.
Turning the tables 🔄@naomiosaka gets revenge for her Indian Wells defeat to Osorio last year, prevailing 6-1 3-6 6-1 in R3.#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/uT0u8uNGWm
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 8, 2026
Eala, 20, was down 2-1 to open the match before winning the next five games and the first two of the second set.
"I really didn't want to win this way," Eala said. "But this is still a really big moment for me to be able to play on Stadium 1 at Indian Wells, against such a great competitor."
Eala converted 5 of 6 break-point opportunities, to 2 of 3 for Gauff, who had seven double faults to zero for her opponent.
There was no such drama for top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who dispatched Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-1. The World No. 1 from Belarus recorded five aces to three double faults and saved five of six break points while converting four of six.
Sabalenka next faces Japan's Naomi Osaka, the 2018 Indian Wells champion who knocked out Colombia's Camila Osorio 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the third round. Osaka, the 16th seed, has played Sabalenka only once, beating her at the U.S. Open in 2018.
American Amanda Anisimova, the sixth seed, cruised past 25th-seeded Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1. Next up is Canadian Victoria Mboko, the 10th seed, who defeated 23rd seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-4, 6-1.
Italy's Jasmine Paolini, seeded seventh, outlasted Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Czech Linda Noskova, the 14th seed, rallied past Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4. Denmark's Clara Tauson, the 17th seed, was ousted by Australia's Talia Gibson 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4.
(With inputs from Reuters)
