Tiafoe dominates McDonald to reach Dallas Open quarterfinals Indian Wells entries include injured Nadal, Djokovic Isner sweeps tiebreakers in straight-sets win at Dallas Open

DALLAS. Frances Tiafoe defeated American Mackenzie McDonald on Wednesday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the Dallas Open.

Tiafoe, who was runner-up, took the win 6-1, 6-3 in 58 minutes. The next player to finish in 14th place is another American, JJ Wolf, who beat Radu Albot 6–3, 7–6 (5) in the second round.

Tiafoe’s Dallas debut in the tournament’s second year came five months after the 25-year-old reached the semi-finals of the US Open, beating Rafael Nadal along the way. He lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

The Germans Daniel Altmaier and Oskar Otte advanced to the second round with victories over the Americans. Altmayer beat Zachary Sweida 6-2, 6-4. Otte eliminated Christopher Eubanks 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Emilio Gomez of Ecuador advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) victory over Canada’s Gabriel Diallo.

INDIAN WELLS, California. The two biggest names on the BNP Paribas Open men’s roster are unlikely to play in Southern California.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were injured during the Australian Open last month, and Djokovic’s COVID-19 vaccination status is also still an issue for the tournament, which will take place March 6-19 in Indian Wells.

Djokovic, a five-time desert winner, missed last year’s tournament due to his vaccination status. The US is set to cancel its COVID emergency statements on May 11, long after the tournament has ended.

Djokovic won the Australian Open last month, becoming the 22nd major player of his career, despite being plagued by a left hamstring injury. He returned to first place in the world rankings. Nadal injured his hip during a second-round loss at the Australian Open and could be out for up to two months.

Runner-up Carlos Alcaraz, who reached the semi-finals last year, is set to return to Indian Wells after missing the Australian Open with an injury. Also announced are #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, #4 Kasper Ruud and #5 Andrey Rublev. American Taylor Fritz is back to defend his title.

Also among the men are Felix Auger-Aliassime No. 7, Holger Rune No. 9 and Hubert Gurkacz No. 10. Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray are also in the field.

On the women’s side, No. 1 ranked Iga Swiatek is back to defend her last year’s title. She will be joined by Australian Open winner and runner-up Arina Sobolenko.

Also in the field are No. 3 Once Gill, No. 4 Jessica Pegula, No. 5 Caroline Garcia, and No. 6 Coco Gauff.

The remaining places in the draws will be filled by the winners of the qualifying tournament and wild card recipients, whose names will be announced in the coming weeks.

DALLAS. John Isner won a pair of tiebreakers in a no-serve match to advance to the second round of his hometown Dallas Open with a straight-set victory over Chun-Hsin Tseng on Tuesday night.

The American No. 5 threw 22 aces in a 7-6(5), 7-6(1) win that left Isner with a career record of 498-319 in tiebreaks. Tseng, 21, played only his 10th and 11th tiebreaks, trailing 3-8.

No. 7 seed Marcos Giron, who reached the semi-finals of the first tournament last year with Isner, took the lead with a 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-1 victory over Alex Rybakov earlier Tuesday.

Eighth-placed Adrian Mannarino of France won the last five points of the tie-break of the first set and the last four games of the second, beating American Steve Johnson 7-6(6), 6-2.

No. 6 seed J.J. Wolf scored a 6-3, 6-3 victory over American Brandon Holt without much trouble.

The 5ft 9in Tseng stayed on the serve with Isner 6-10, the tour leader in aces, before the Chinese Taipei native finally stumbled in the second set.

The match was nearly over when Isner won consecutive points on Tseng’s serve to take a 4-1 lead. Isner, 37, won the last six points of the tie-break.

“I was a little emotionally drained after that first set,” Isner said. “But I was able to stay even in the second set and played a very, very good tiebreak. And I’m very glad I’m not still on this court.”

Chiron reacted quickly after failing to close the second set, winning the first five games of the deciding set.

Rybakov broke his American compatriot when Chiron served for the match in the second set. Rybakov then won the first six points in the second set tie-break.

“I’m very happy with how I was able to reset in the third and just go back to the game plan from the start and get back up,” Giron said. “He played well, pitched well, and stayed there.”

American Mackenzie McDonald defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6:3, 6:0 and will face Frances Tiafoe of the United States in the second round, who took second place.

Wolf will face Radu Albot, who rallied and won 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 over American Liam Kroll.