Medvedev tops Paul to reach quarterfinals at rainy Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, California: Russia’s Daniil Medvedev shook off a day of rain delays to beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-0 on Tuesday and reach the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, where he’s vying to improve on runner-up finishes the past two years.

Taking the court around 10:00 pm, four hours after he was slated to open the night session on Stadium Court, Medvedev took full advantage of Paul’s 31 unforced errors.

“It wasn’t an easy preparation,” Medvedev said. “We both were here early and then rain, rain, rain. I think we both went in rusty, he a little bit more than I did.”

Paul had his opportunities, rallying after Medvedev jumped to a 4-0 lead to win four straight games.

But Medvedev won the next eight — pocketing the first set on a pair of Paul forehand errors then racing through the second to seal it with one final break of the American’s serve.

“Pretty strange score,” Medvedev said. “Whoever won some games won them in a row.”

Medvedev, who fell to Carlos Alcaraz in each of the last two finals, next faces France’s Arthur Fils, a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 winner over American Marcos Giron in a match halted for more than three hours by rain in the first set.

Women’s defending champion Iga Swiatek had to wait out a near-hour delay before getting started, but once she did she produced another brutally efficient 6-1, 6-1 victory over Karolina Muchova, beating the worst of the weather.

The world No. 2 from Poland needed just 57 minutes to put away Muchova, who took her to three sets in the 2023 French Open final.

Swiatek, the 2022 and 2024 winner, didn’t face a break point as she continued her bid to become the first woman to win three titles in the California desert.

She said the weather was an extra spur to finish it quickly,