Tiafoe cruises past Paire, Nishikori survives Sousa in first round of Indian Wells

With the opening round of the men's singles kicking off on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, Frances Tiafoe booked his spot in the second round with a victory over Benoit Paire.

The American required just 62 minutes to pull off the 6-4 6-4 win, constantly applying pressure to Paire's second serve. Tiafoe relied on his huge forehand and court coverage to frustrate his Belgian opponent, forcing him to hit errant shots in an attempt to gain any momentum. Furthermore, Paire was unable to generate any momentum on serve, hitting six double faults that saw him lose any chance of victory.

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In more first round action, Kei Nishikori faced an uphill battle in his match against Joao Sousa. Despite dropping the first set, Nishikori battled back to prevail with a 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 victory over the Portuguese qualifier.

American Tommy Paul ended Feliciano Lopez's Indian Wells run early with a 6-3 7-6(3) win, but not before the 40 year-old Spaniard had set a new record of competing in 139 ATP Masters 100 events.

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