Jannik Sinner defeated Denis Shapovalov in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on March 8, 2026 in Indian Wells, California. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner moved one step closer to his first title in Indian Wells by beating Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-2 in 73 minutes at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
The Italian advanced to the fourth round of the California event with the fifth highest number of appearances. He also advanced to the semifinals in 2023 and 2024, but lost to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who is currently ranked first.
Sinner, the second seed, will face Shapovalov, ranked 39th in the world, 2-1.
“As we know, Dennis is a high-level player,” Sinner said. “I’m very happy with my performance because he’s a poor player. I tried to stay solid from the baseline, but I was a little more aggressive in the second set, which helped. It was a tough start, but I’m happy with the response.”
Sinner converted 4 of 8 on break point opportunities to 1 of 1 for Shapovalov, who had more unforced errors (25-11) and double faults (7-2). Sinner had the edge in aces (6-2) and won 85% (28 of 33) of his first serves and 62% (21 of 34) of his opponents.
While Sinner was cruising on Sunday, world number eight Ben Shelton upset fellow American and southpaw Learner Tien 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and nine minutes in their round of 32 match.
The 25th-seeded Tien, who reached the fourth round in Indian Wells for the first time, is 2-0 against Shelton at this ATP Tour level and admitted his opponent was suffering from an illness.
“I just want to say that Ben came out feeling 100 percent bad,” Tien said. “I’m sure he hasn’t been feeling well all week, but he’s an incredible competitor and he stepped up and gave it his all, so I’d like to give him a big thumbs up.”
Tien, 20, is from Irvine, California, and has participated in the event over the years while growing up in Southern California. He called it “a truly perfect moment.”
He actually outscored a hard-serving Shelton, 15-8. That power came with more double faults (10-3), but Tien had more winners (40-34) as neither player broke serve more than twice during the match.
Another upset was Brazil’s 19-year-old Joao Fonseca, who eliminated 23rd seed American Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-3. Jakub Mensik, the 12th seed from the Czech Republic, lost to the 18th seed, Alejandro Davidovic Fokina of Spain, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the 4th seed, defeated 28th seed Brandon Nakashima (USA) 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-4 and avoided a comeback.
Ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime won his All-Canada clash with Gabriel Diallo 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3. America’s Frances Tiafoe, seeded 21st, defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, seeded 15th, 6-1, 6-2.
French player Arthur Fils, seeded 30th, beat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-5.
–Field level media
