Four Australians took to the courts for singles action at the Indian Wells tournament. All walked off as winners.
Daria Gavrilova went into the Indian Wells Premier Mandatory event without a win since October 2018. She added to her first round win with a comfortable victory in round two over Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu the 29th seed taking the match 6-2, 6-2.
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Photo: Daria Gavrilova of Australia celebrates after winning a game against Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania during their womens singles second round match during day five of the BNP Paribas Open on March 8, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Buzarnescu has been struggling to win a match since she won the San Jose Premier title in early August. The Romanian won the first round in Montreal the following week before starting an 11 match losing streak which she ended with a round one victory last week in Acapulco, defeating Gavrilova who was on a seven-match losing streak.
Gavrilova was well on top early in the match racing to a 4-0 lead before Buzarnescu finally held serve. In the second set Gavrilova broke in the third game to lead 2-1. She then consolidated the break to lead 3-1. Another break was earned by Gavrilova and she was well on her way to back-to-back victories for the first time in 2109.
Buzarnescu broke back to have some hope, but Gavrilova powered on to win the next two games to close out the match.
Ash Barty was playing for the first time since helping Australia defeat USA in the Fed Cup. The world no. 12 got off to a slow start falling behind 4-1 against Germany’s Tatjana Maria. Barty would fight back to win the match 6-4, 6-4.
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Photo: Ashleigh Barty of Australia returns against Tatjana Maria of Germany during their womens singles second round match during day five of the BNP Paribas Open on March 8, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Alex Bolt and Alexei Popyrin had won two qualifying matches to earn their spot in the main draw, both players today had round one matches. Bolt was up against world no. 79 Ernests Gulbis from Latvia. Popyrin faced Spain’s Jaume Munar the world no. 61.
It was Bolt that was first to walk off the court as a winner with both players serving for their respective matches at 5-2. Bolt got the job done while Popyrin was broken before breaking in the next game to seal his match.
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Photo: Alex Bolt of Australia returns a shot to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 08, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Bolt won his match 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 and Popyrin won in straight sets 7-6(7), 6-3.
Popyrin was saved a set point in the first set tie break when he hit a forehand winner to level the scores at 6-6. The young Australian then hit long to present another set point to his opponent, this time on the Munar serve.
After a long and patient point from Popyrin, it was the Spaniard that finally made an error when he hit a slice forehand into the net. Another unforced error from Munar when he hit long saw Popyrin step up to serve for the set. Another unforced error from Munar and the set was gone.
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Photo: Alexei Popyrin of Australia volleys against Jaume Munar of Spain during their mens singles first round match during day five of the BNP Paribas Open on March 8, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Popyrin broke in the fifth and seventh games to take control of the match. The Australian looked a bit tight as he served for the match at 5-2 and conceded the game, only to break again to claim victory in his first Masters event.
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