Tennis: Rafael Nadal beat Dan Evans, Gael Monfils stuns Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells
Rafael Nadal proved too strong for Dan Evans as the Spaniard continued his clean start to 2022.
Evans led early in the first set 3-1 in their BNP Paribas third round match but Nadal broke service twice to win the first set 7-5. Nadal broke early in set two to complete a 7-5 6-3 win as he now makes it 17 straight wins in 2022.
Evans said after the match, “It’s tough to explain the feeling you get against him. He played very well, I thought, he was very aggressive and he didn’t really give me much chance to come forward”.
Nadal will play American Reilly Opelka or Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, current world number one Daniil Medvedev was stunned by Gael Monfils at the Indian Wells on Monday. The Russian lost a three-set third-round match against the 35-year-old French star. Monfils recovered from a set down to beat the Russian who grew frustrated as the match progressed by 4-6 6-3 6-1.
Monfils will face 28th seed Carlo Alcaraz who beat 15th seed Robert Bautista Agut 6-2 6-1.
The defeat means Medvedev’s reign as the number one seed will soon be taken by Novak Djokovic who is absent from the tournament.
