In their ninth meeting at tour level, third seed Casper Ruud took out World No. 38 Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-3 after one hour and 24 minutes on the third day of action at the first Masters 1000 event of the season.
Next, the two-time grand slam finalist will face Chile’s Cristian Garin, who outlasted 29th seed Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-0 in Indian Wells on Friday.
The Match as It Happened
An intense start to the first set saw the Norwegian and the Argentine playing long rallies, both holding behind their serves.
In the fourth game, Ruud would find breathing room to convert his first break point, holding to open a 4-1 advantage over Schwartzman.
He built from there and never looked back. Controlling play, he broke twice in the eighth game, sealing a 6-2 win in 43 minutes.
The 24-year-old hit 11 winners, six unforced errors, winning 86 percent of the first serve points, converting two of four break point opportunities.
The World No. 38 raised his level into the second set, but so did his adversary, who shut the door, breaking to extend his advantage at 4-2.
From there, the Oslo born-player marched to take the set 6-3 and the match after 45 minutes, advancing to the third round.
Moreover, the 9-time ATP titlist fired 19 winners and 12 unforced errors to his 15 and 22 from his rival, respectively.
In addition, he won 82 percent of the first serve points on it, while Schwartzman won 68 percent on his.
Norway’s top racquet wrapped up a standout season at the top of his game, finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the prestigious season-ending event, the Nitto ATP Finals, held last November in Turin, Italy.
However, the start of his 2023 season has been far from ideal, exiting early in the three tournaments he contested ahead of the BNP Paribas Open, which includes the Australian Open - lost to American Jenson Brooksby in the second round.
The 2023 season has not started as expected for Schwartzman either. On his way to Tennis Paradise, he clinched just one victory in six ATP events.
On Wednesday, he scored the second win of the season at the Masters 1000 tournament, beating countryman Federico Coria in their first-round encounter.
On Sunday, Ruud and Garin will face one another for the fifth time on Tour.
The World No. 97 leads their series 3-1, having met for the last time in 2022 at the ATP Cup Round Robin when the U.S. Open finalist earned his first and sole win against the 26-year-old.