Sawt Falasteen - Keys survives Mertens to reach Indian Wells fourth round

Unable to convert two match points as she served at 5-3 in the second set, the fifth-seeded American blew two more in the tiebreaker before finally polishing off the 28th seed from Belgium in two hours and 48 minutes.

"It's always tough when you feel like you're not playing your best tennis against someone who's really tricky," Keys said. "Definitely really frustrating, lots of ups and downs.

"It's just abut surviving," added Keys, who had lost twice to Mertens since beating her at Wimbledon in 2021.

Keys is playing her first tournament since capturing her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne. She has found the California desert inhospitable in the past and is in the last 16 for just the third time.

She'll face either compatriot Emma Navarro or Croatia's Donna Vecic as she tries to seal a quarter-final berth.

Two-time defending men's champion Carlos Alcaraz and women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka highlighted Stadium Court action in the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event.

Spain's Alcaraz, vying to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight Indian Wells titles, takes on 27th-seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada.

The world number three from Spain is the highest-ranked player remaining in the men's draw after No. 2 Alexander Zverev's second-round exit. Top-ranked Italian Jannik Sinner is serving a belated three-month drugs ban.

Third-seeded American Taylor Fritz, last year's US Open runner-up who won the Indian Wells title in 2022, took on Chile's 31st-ranked Alejandro Tabile.

The winner of that match next faces 14th-ranked Jack Draper of Britain, who shook off a slow start to beat Jenson Brooksby 7-5, 6-4.

Trailing 4-1 in the opening set, Draper found his groove to fend off the American who is ranked 937th in the world after missing two years during which he had two wrist surgeries, rehabbed a shoulder injury and served suspension for missing multiple anti-doping tests.

"Jenson is an unorthodox player, he makes life really difficult," said Draper, who flung his racquet in frustration at one point in the first set.

"He doesn't make the rhythm easy. I got off to a slow start, I missed a couple of opportunities early on.

"But I'm glad of the way I fought and competed. Even though it wasn't my best tennis today, I'm really happy with the way I tried my best to stay cool."

In other early matches, Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, ending the run of the Dutch lucky loser who toppled 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the second round.

D.AbuRida--SF-PST