Current Grand Slam champions Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz delivered commanding performances on Sunday, advancing to the fourth round of the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters.
The two rising stars in tennis showed no mercy as they secured swift victories. Australian Open champion Sinner defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Alcaraz continued his strong title defense at Indian Wells with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Alcaraz, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, maintained his momentum, securing his eighth consecutive match win at the event. Additionally, two experienced female players showcased impressive returns to the court after maternity breaks.
"It was almost the perfect match for me," said Alcaraz, who broke Auger-Aliassime's serve four times. "I moved well, played aggressively, and made fewer mistakes."
Sinner was equally ruthless as he attacked Struff, winning his 17th match in succession since his country's Davis Cup victory in November.
Sinner fired 27 winners past Struff, whose style gave the third seed a target on the court.
"We prepared very well; I tried to learn his moves," Sinner said. "I played well and served well under pressure.
"Overall I can be really happy about today, I felt really good on the court."
Alcaraz won the last five games of the opening set and broke to start the second on his way to repeating his win over Auger-Aliassime from the 2023 quarter-finals.
The second seed finished off a victory on his first match point as Auger-Aliassime hit the net with his 23rd unforced error.
It was a welcome show of strength from Alcaraz, who hasn't won a title since winning his second Grand Slam with a stunning triumph over Novak Djokovic at the All England Club last year.
He exited the Australian Open in the quarterfinals, then lost in the semi-finals in Buenos Aires last month before spraining his ankle and retiring from his opening match in Rio de Janeiro.
"I played at a really high level of tennis, so much higher than the first round," the Spaniard said.
Alcaraz may still be feeling the effects of the ankle, which has left him short of 2024 match play.
"My confidence has gone down a little bit; I've been struggling during practice every day," he admitted. "I'm trying to keep my confidence as high as I can."
In other matches, fifth seed Andrey Rublev was knocked out 6-4, 6-4 by rising Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Alex de Minaur, seeded 10th, dominated Dubai finalist Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-0.
The Australian now plays sixth seed Alexander Zverev, a 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 winner over Tallon Griekspoor.
Greek 11th-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated home crowd favorite Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-3, who reached the Californian quarterfinals a year ago.
In WTA play, Iga Swiatek claimed quick revenge for a January loss by hammering Czech Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-0 to reach the fourth round.
The Polish top seed was defeated by the 29th-ranked challenger in an Australian Open third-round upset.
On Sunday, world No. 1 Swiatek quickly recovered after going down an early break to the 19-year-old, leveling at 4-all and sweeping through the remainder of the third-round match.
Swiatek will next face Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who beat Madison Keys 6-4, 6-1.
The Pole said she learned from her loss to Noskova in Melbourne.
"It was much smarter to think about how to just play against Linda rather than focusing on my mistakes," she said.
"I was motivated to just play better and not make the same mistakes but to improve my game in some aspects."
Germany's three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber won as her comeback from last year's maternity continued to gather steam.
The 36-year-old defeated Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-5.
She next faces former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, another comeback candidate after becoming a mother who advanced past Katie Volynets, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.
