Alex de Minaur stuns Hurkacz, moves to Indian Wells fourth round

Top Australian Alex de Minaur put on a ruthless display of tennis at the Indian Wells Masters in California on Tuesday (AEDT), beating former top-10 player Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 6-0.

The world No.10 improves to 15-4 for the year with the victory, which takes him through to the fourth round at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

De Minaur was clinical in the important moments of the 75-minute-long match, breaking Hurkacz on all four break points he manufactured and saving the sole one on his own serve.

Top tennis betting now has the ninth seed on the sixth line of betting to win his maiden Masters title in Indian Wells, with BetOnline pricing him at $17.

Carlos Alcaraz remains favourite to win the tournament across leading bookmakers at $2.25, while Daniil Medvedev ($7), Stefanos Tsitsipas ($9), Taylor Fritz ($11) and Jack Draper ($15) all sit ahead of de Minaur as well.

Both Fritz and Draper picked up gritty wins on Tuesday (AEDT) too.

Fritz faced Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo and had to overcome an early deficit, winning 10 of the final 11 games to win 4-6, 6-3, and 6-1 in less than two hours.

The American had been a $1.12 favourite to win at BetOnline pre-match.

Draper easily defeated returning American Jenson Brooksby, but he still had to work hard for his 7-5, 6-4 victory.

“I definitely felt out there today; it wasn’t my cleanest tennis,” the Brit said afterwards.

“But at the same time, I know that I’ve got the ability to problem-solve, and also, you know, no matter how uncomfortable I’m feeling, I know they’re going to be feeling uncomfortable too.”

Draper and Fritz will clash on Thursday (AEDT) in what will be one of the closest-watched fourth-round encounters between two potential title contenders.

Tennis bookmakers are yet to release odds for the match but have set their markets for de Minaur’s round of 16 fixture against Argentina’s Franciso Cerundolo.

The Aussie is a heavy favourite at BetOnline, returning just $1.28 to win and booking his spot in the Indian Wells quarter-finals for the first time.

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