March 5, 2026; Indian Wells, California, USA; Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) hits a shot during his first round win over Terence Atmane (FRA) at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Image Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov cruised to a three-set victory over France’s Terence Atmane at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Thursday to set up a second-round match against top seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Dimitrov defeated Atmane 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in a rematch of their opening match last week in Acapulco, Mexico.
“I think we started the game really well, but it was difficult to maintain a solid level,” Dimitrov said. “I knew one day I would have a few opportunities, so I just held on to the moment. It could have gone either way, but I stayed very strong when it mattered most.”
Now Dimitrov gets his chance at Alcaraz, who holds a 4-2 career advantage over him. Last year, the Spanish star defeated Dimitrov 6-1, 6-1 in the round of 16 in Indian Wells.
Asked about facing 2023 and 2024 Indian Wells champion Alcaraz, Dimitrov said, “I’m always looking at my side of the net. At this point in my career, I’ll almost always be looking at my side of the net and what I want to do. If I win, it’s good, if I lose, it’s good again. That’s a mindset I want to adopt a lot more.”
In another match Thursday, American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald needed just 62 minutes to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-0, 6-1. The Italian won just 38.2% of his service points (13 of 34).
Qualifier Benjamin Bonzi won 6-4, 6-3 against Valentin Royer in France, while Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut won 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-4 against Hungary’s Fabian Marosan.
American players Sebastian Korda, Aleksandar Kovacevic and Alex Michelsen all recorded back-to-back wins.
Also advancing to the second round were Argentina’s Sebastian Baez and Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Portugal’s Nuno Borges, Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko and Australia’s Rinky Hijikata.
In the final match of the night, Columbia University senior Michael Zheng, ranked 145th in the world as a wildcard participant, lost 7-6(1), 7-5 to Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic, a lucky loser in the preliminaries.
–Field level media
