Medvedev wins 'tricky' Indian Wells match to stay on track for fourth straight title

Daniil Medvedev kept alive his bid for a fourth successive title after overcoming a "tricky" third-round battle with Ilya Ivashka at the Indian Wells Masters on Sunday.

Medvedev, seeded fifth, extended his winning run to 16 matches with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over 85th-ranked Ivashka and will face German 12th seed Alexander Zverev for a place in the quarter-finals.

"Always tricky to play here," said Medvedev, who arrived in California following a hat-trick of titles at the Rotterdam Open, Qatar Open, and Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

"(It's) tough to make anything during the rallies, so just have to kind of see who puts more balls in court. If you lose a little momentum you lose a set."

Medvedev was clearly frustrated at the end of the second set, grumbling to the referee that he would be "as slow as the court" in taking a bathroom break.

The Russian former world No 1 managed to pull himself together, though, to take a 5-0 lead in the third. Serving to prolong the match, Ivashka went down 0-40, but reeled off three straight points and held serve with an ace to force Medvedev to serve it out.

"I missed less. That's the only thing you can do. You cannot do more," Medvedev, 27, said. "It was a matter of a few points.

"Second and third sets for me they were kind of the same, the score is completely different. It's just who plays better the most important points -- break points, 30-all. I managed to do better in the third set."

Medvedev's fourth-round opponent, Olympic champion Zverev, said he felt fortunate to come out with a 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori, whom he judged "the much better player" in the third set.

The shock of the day saw qualifier Cristian Garin defeat third-seeded Casper Ruud