INDIAN WELLS
Bianca Andreescu and Denis Shapovalov produced impressive displays to advance to the next round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday. Andreescu swept aside Switzerland’s Stefanie Vögele 6-1, 6-2 while Shapovalov beat American Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-4.
Fresh from her win over 32nd-seed Dominika Cibulková on Friday, Andreescu, who has been one of the stories of the WTA Tour season so far, continued her fine form.
Wasting no time in asserting her dominance, the 18-year-old broke Vögele twice in a row and held her own service games to take an early 5-0 lead in the first set, which she went on to win comfortably 6-1.
Unstoppable Andreescu.
Hardly missing a ball and striking winners at will, she takes the first set 6-1 and leads *3-0 in the second. Can she close it out? #BiancaRising
(📷: Mauricio Paiz) pic.twitter.com/dY6t1jRWJY
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) March 10, 2019
Vögele, who beat fourth-seed Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-0 in the previous round, couldn’t land a punch on Andreescu. As was the case in the first set, the Canadian broke her opponent the first two times of asking in the second and never looked back.
In the end, 29-year-old Vögele only managed to win two games in the set and three all match as Andreescu stormed to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
https://twitter.com/tumcarayol/status/1104897570093056001
Meanwhile, over on Court 3, Shapovalov, who received a bye in the tournament’s first round, got to work immediately against his American opponent. The pair shared some impressive shots early on but it was the young Canadian who made the first move, breaking Johnson in the eighth game before serving successfully to claim the first set 6-3.
Shapo doing Shapo things 🙌#BNPPO19 @denis_shapo pic.twitter.com/15Gvaim6Ah
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 10, 2019
It was a similar story in the second set as Shapovalov battled to get into a position to break Johnson before grabbing the opportunity with both hands – although the American’s double fault on the deciding break point in the third game was somewhat fortunate.
From there on in, the 19-year-old Canadian showed great poise to remain perfect on his own serve to see out the set, and the match, to set up a third-round clash with tenth-seed Marin Čilić, who beat Dušan Lajović 6-3, 6-4 earlier in the day.
Moving into Round 3️⃣ at the #BNPPO19!
🇨🇦 @denis_shapo breaks once in each to defeat Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-4. pic.twitter.com/My87eNU8oz
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 11, 2019
(Feature photo: Mauricio Paiz)