IT was a great day for Australia’s Indian Wells title hopes with a trio of talents joining Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur in the Round of 64. James Duckworth, Jordan Thompson and John Millman all advanced to the second round in tight contests, but it meant Spain was the nation that lost out with two of those victories coming at the expense of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.

Thompson managed to defeat Lopez in straight sets, but it was far from easy with Lopez actually having a set point in the first set tiebreaker, only for Thompson to win the last three points and take it out 8-6. The Australian then had to fight equally as hard in the second set before finishing off his more experienced opponent 7-6 7-5 in an hour and 52 minutes. Millman was not as lucky against Verdasco early on, dropping the first set 7-5, before bouncing back to win 12 of the next 16 games in just over two hours to record a victory 5-7 6-2 6-2 and advance through. Meanwhile Duckworth had a similarly tough time against Slovenia’s Alijaz Bedene, winning 7-6 7-5 and holding off his opponent with a crucial break in the penultimate game to take out the victory. All three will have their work cut out for the them in the Round of 32, with Millman facing third seed Daniil Medvedev, Thompson coming up against 10th seed Fabio Fognini, and Duckworth now facing 16th seed Stan Wawrinka.

It was a day to forget for the third Spanish loser in the tournament with Albert Ramos-Vinolas failing to fire a shot against Next Gen Finals winner, Jannik Sinner as the teenager won 6-2 6-1 in 43 minutes. He was the only Italian to advance through on day two after shocking losses to compatriots, Salvatore Caruso and Gianluca Mager, winning a combined seven games between them by suffering defeats at the hands of Kyle Edmund and Vasek Pospisil respectively. In the two tightest matches of the day, Frenchman Gilles Simon downed Hungarian Attila Balazs in three sets, as did Ricardas Berankis over Joao Sousa.

Other winners on day two were Norway’s Casper Ruud, Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, Croatia’s Marin Cilic – over fellow top 50 player Reilly Opelka – Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, France’s Lucas Pouille, Kazakhstan’s Mihail Kukushkin and Romania’s Radu Albot.

Among the matches to watch out for on day three of the tournament is German, Philipp Kohlschreiber coming up against 28th seed Hubert Hurkacz, 11th seed Roberto Bautista Agut facing Kyrgios, and 23rd seed Taylor Fritz taking on compatriot, Tommy Paul in the Round of 64.

ROUND OF 128 RESULTS:

Kyle Edmund (GBR) defeated Salvatore Caruso (ITA) 6-2 6-2
Vasek Pospisil (CAN) defeated Gianluca Mager (ITA) 6-1 6-2
Sam Querrey (USA) defeated Cameron Norrie (GBR) 7-6 6-3
James Duckworth (AUS) defeated Alijaz Bedene (SLO) 7-6 7-5
Jannik Sinner (ITA) defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-2 6-1
Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Andrej Martin (SVK) 6-1 6-4
Gilles Simon (FRA) defeated Attila Balazs (HUN) 6-3 1-6 6-3
Dominik Koepfer (GER) defeated Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 7-6 7-5
Marin Cilic (CRO) defeated Reilly Opelka (USA) 6-3 6-3
Marton Fucsovics (HUN) defeated Soonwoo Kwon (KOR) 6-2 6-1
Lucas Pouille (FRA) defeated Nicolas Jarry (CHI) 6-3 6-4
Jordan Thompson (AUS) defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-6 7-5
Mihail Kukushkin (KAZ) defeated Dennis Novak (AUT) 6-3 6-3
Radu Albot (ROU) defeated Hugo Dellien (BOL) 6-3 6-1
Ricardas Berankis (LTU) defeated Joao Sousa (POR) 7-5 4-6 6-3
John Millman (AUS) defeated Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 5-7 6-2 6-2