INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Brandon Nakashima capitalized on two double faults from John Isner in an error-riddled match to earn the only break of the entire match and advance to the second round of the Indian Wells Open. with a 7-6(7), 6-3 win in Wednesday’s All-American game.
Under the watchful eye of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes who was in the stands, the first Masters 1000 contest of the year began.
The tournament is held in women’s and men’s branches.
Nakashima, 21, of San Diego, saved on a set point from Isner, 37, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon 2018, en route to winning the first-set tiebreaker.
And Nakashima, who won the ATP Next Gen Finals tournament last year, took a 4-2 lead in the second set after nearly an hour and a half of the match. He earned his four points in that game thanks to those pairs of double faults, a forehand from Isner that hit the top of the net and another that went wide.
In total, Isner, a runner-up at Indian Wells in 2012, committed seven double faults, part of his 25 unforced errors, 18 more than Nakashima. World No. 48 Nakashima’s next opponent will be 2022 US Open champion and former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, who is carrying a 14-game winning streak and has won the last three tournaments. in which he participated.
That winning streak includes a victory over Novak Djokovic, a 22-time Grand Slam champion who is not competing in Indian Wells because he cannot travel to the United States as a foreign citizen unvaccinated against COVID-19.
Rafael Nadal, the player with whom Djokovic shares the record for most major tournament wins, is not in the desert either. The Spaniard has been out of court since suffering a left hip flexor injury at the Australian Open.
Medvedev, like the other top seeds, received a second-round bye.
On Wednesday evening, Gaël Monfils, 36, two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, lost 6-3, 6-1 to Australian Jordan Thompson. It was the Frenchman’s first game since August, when he injured his right foot.
More active on the first day, Evgeniya Rodina, 34, world number 427, and having played only one match at tour level, beat Alizé Cornet, 68th, 6-2, 7-5.
Wang Xinyu (67) beat Elise Mertens (37) 6-3, 6-1; Dayana Yastremska (wild card) beat Anna Bondar 6-3, 6-4; Aliaksandra Sasnovich edged Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 7-6 (5); Anna Blinkova outlasted Ann Li 6-1, 6-2; and Linda Noskova defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6 (7), 6-1.
On the men’s side, Marcos Giron, who won the collegiate championship with UCLA, eliminated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 7-5; Ugo Humbert beat Bernabé Zapata Miralles 6-2, 7-6 (6); Jason Kubler beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-6(4) and Oscar Otte beat Laslo Djere 6-3, 7-5.