Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz battled through tough matches to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells on Monday, while defending women’s champion Mirra Andreeva fell early, letting her frustrations spill onto the court.
Third-seeded Djokovic recovered from a second-set stumble to defeat American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, advancing to the last 16 for the first time since 2017. He will face reigning champion Jack Draper, who cruised past Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner, who shares a record five titles at the Indian Wells event, said he has been managing a forearm issue over the past two weeks.
“It’s a bit odd. The more I serve, the better I feel, but it comes on and off if I get cold,” Djokovic told Tennis Channel.
“If I don’t serve for five or six minutes, I feel like the first couple of serves of that game are a bit painful. I’m working through it. It’s not something I haven’t faced before.
“I’m trying to manage my body and mental state on a daily basis so I can be peaking as much as I possibly can on a given day. It’s not going to get easier. Draper is next and playing at a high level again, but I love the challenge.”
Britain’s Draper, playing his second event after an arm injury, was in commanding form as he breezed through the opening set before enduring a stiff challenge from his Argentine opponent in the second.
Alcaraz was also tested by Arthur Rinderknech and faced the threat of losing his first match of the year after dropping the first set and his serve early in the second. The world No. 1 recovered to prevail 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2.
The Spaniard rolled his ankle midway through the contest but shrugged off the injury scare and pulled level before switching gears to improve his 2026 record to 14-0.
He will face Casper Ruud, who downed Rinderknech’s cousin Valentin Vacherot 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Katerina Siniakova caused the biggest upset of the day in the women’s draw by beating Andreeva 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. The defending champion threw her racket toward her chair and stormed off the court after shouting at a section of the crowd.
“There were a lot of emotions I was going through after the loss,” Andreeva said, who also smashed a racket earlier.
“But of course I’m not really proud of how I managed it. Those are the things I really need to work on soon, not in the future but whenever I get the chance.”
Siniakova’s Czech compatriot Karolina Muchova also impressed by defeating Croatian Antonia Ruzic 6-0, 6-3, while Swiss Belinda Bencic eased past Belgian Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-3.
Second-seeded Iga Swiatek, twice champion at Indian Wells, overpowered Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2, but it was the end of the road for American Madison Keys, who lost 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to Briton Sonay Kartal.
Fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula kept the U.S. flag flying by recovering to defeat former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and advance to the fourth round.
Fellow American Alex Michelsen ousted seventh-seeded home favorite Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the men’s draw, while Briton Cameron Norrie beat Australian sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata also impressed, coming back from a first-set tiebreak deficit to defeat Kazakh 10th-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a contest lasting more than two and a half hours.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev showed no mercy, defeating Sebastian Baez 6-4, 6-0 in 78 minutes to close out the evening’s action on the men’s side.
