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sa国际传媒's Leylah Fernandez ousted by Badosa of Spain at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. 鈥 sa国际传媒's Leylah Fernandez has been eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open. The 19-year-old from Laval, Que., lost 6-4, 6-4 to defending champion Paula Badosa of Spain in Tuesday night's round of 16.
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Leylah Fernandez, of sa国际传媒, returns a shot against Paula Badosa, of Spain, at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Indian Wells, Calif.  THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mark J. Terrill

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. 鈥 sa国际传媒's Leylah Fernandez has been eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open.

The 19-year-old from Laval, Que., lost 6-4, 6-4 to defending champion Paula Badosa of Spain in Tuesday night's round of 16.

Fernandez arrived at Indian Wells on the heels of a victory at the Monterrey Open a week earlier, the second WTA title of her career.

Badosa beat Victoria Azarenka in a three-hour final to win the 2021 BNP Paribas Open.

Taylor Fritz defeated Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (2) in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open, making him one of five American men still alive in the desert tournament.

Fritz reached the semifinals at Indian Wells last year, his career-best result in an ATP Masters 1000 event. The son of former WTA Tour pro Kathy May has been on an upward trajectory since, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open in January 鈥 his best showing yet in a Grand Slam event.

John Isner beat 14th-seeded Diego Schwartzman, 7-5, 6-3, to reach the fourth round. The six-foot-11 American capitalized on his 16-inch height advantage, blasting 13 aces and frustrating Schwartzman with clever drop shots. Isner didn鈥檛 even need any tiebreakers; 18 of his 30 sets played this year have ended in tiebreakers.

Two other Americans, Tommy Paul and wild-card Steve Johnson, got beat. Paul lost to 29th-seeded Alex de Minaur, 7-6 (2), 6-4. Johnson dropped a 7-6 (7), 6-3 decision to 11th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz.

鈥淭ommy is really close to cracking into being seeded at slams,鈥 Fritz said. 鈥淩eilly (Opelka) is consistently beating very, very good players. It's not weird to see these guys beating really good players, having solid results.鈥

Americans Frances Tiafoe and Steve Johnson were to play night matches.

On Wednesday, two more Americans have big fourth-round matches. No. 17 seed Opelka plays 21-time major champion Rafael Nadal, while Jenson Brooksby takes on defending champion and 12th-seeded Cameron Norrie.

鈥淔or the first time in a while you can actually say American tennis on the men鈥檚 side is very promising,鈥 Isner said. 鈥淲e have a lot of players in the top 100. I do think getting two players in the top 10 sometime in the near future is very conceivable."

In other women's fourth-round action, Madison Keys beat British qualifier Harriett Dart, 6-1, 6-4. Keys is the last American woman still in the tournament.

鈥淚 really just kind of buckled down,鈥 Keys said. 鈥淚f I got a second serve, I was going to be more aggressive. When I got the opportunity, I was going to go for it.鈥

No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek outlasted three-time major champion and former No. 1 player Angelique Kerber, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

鈥淚 felt like she wanted to use her experience and kind of trick me,鈥 Swiatek said. 鈥淚 like that because it鈥檚 like a new experience for me. I鈥檓 pretty proud of myself that I could win against such a smart player.鈥

Simona Halep, the 2015 champion, beat Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-4. The Romanians played for the first time in 12 years and have split their four meetings.

鈥淚 feel like I played perfect in the first set,鈥 Halep said. 鈥淭he second set was a little bit tougher because I started to miss. She started to play a little bit better. But I think it鈥檚 a strong victory for me.鈥

Petra Martic of Croatia beat No. 28 Liudmila Samsonova, 7-6 (6), 6-4. No. 6 Maria Sakkari advanced when qualifier Daria Saville retired trailing 4-1 because of a left thigh injury.

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The Associated Press