Karatsev battles past Shapovalov, Dimitrov cuts down Opelka to reach round of 16

Aslan Karatsev broke his streak of losing after one match since May when he upset Denis Shapovalov at the BNP Paribas Indian Wells tournament, booking his spot in the round of 16.

The Russian scored a 7-5 6-2 victory over the ninth seed, allowing him to win two matches in consecutive tournaments for the first time since Madrid and Rome. Karatsev was aided by very errant play from Shapovalov, who committed 26 unforced errors with 12 coming off his forehand.

After an even opening set that saw both men hold serve, the Russian finally obtained the crucial break in the 11th game before serving out the set. The second set was less uniform, with Karatsev breaking his opponent as the errors began to fly off the Canadian's racket. This led to the Australian Open semifinalist obtaining the double break, before serving out the match after an hour and 36 minutes.

Grigor Dimitrov faced a giant task in the towering Reilly Opelka, but was able to overcome the wind and his opponent to advance to the round of 16 with a 6-3 6-4 victory. The Bulgarian was able to neutralize Opelka's thunderous serve by standing closer to the baseline, securing a break in each set that allowed him to close out the match after 74 minutes.