BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells 2026: Wins for Jack Draper, Sonay Kartal & Cam Norrie in second round
• 3 minute read
It was a fantastic day for the British stars competing at the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells with Jack Draper Sonay Kartal and Cam Norrie reaching the third round.
Defending champion Draper marked his return to the California desert with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback win over former world No.9 Roberto Bautista Agut .
British No.2 Kartal produced one of the upsets of the second round against 20th seed and home favourite Emma Navarro.
The American had the chance to serve for the match in the third but Kartal fought back to win 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(2).
Finally, Norrie booked his place in the third round with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over USA’s Mackenzie McDonald.
They join Emma Raducanu as four Brits in the third round at Indian Wells.
However, Britain's Jacob Fearnley narrowly missed out on an upset win of his own, losing out to seventh seed and former champion Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-1.
In the next round, Draper takes on 19th seed Francisco Cerundolo, Kartal will play 15th seed Madison Keys and Norrie is set to face sixth seed Alex De Minaur.
Draper marks return with a win
Draper was made to work hard for his winning return at Indian Wells, competing in his first ATP Masters 1000 event since Rome last year.
After missing out on three break points in the opening game of the match, Draper found himself on the back foot. The Spaniard broke at 3-2 and held to see out the first set.
Draper gave the perfect response and his fast start to the second set was pivotal to his comeback. He raced out to a 3-0 lead with his first break of the match and quickly levelled back at one set apiece.
The Briton can take encouragement from the way he served throughout the match – winning 88% (35/40) points on his first serve. Draper broke twice in the deciding set and saved five break points of his own to see out the win.
The British star was happy to make it through but admitted he still has a way to go to get back to his best.
"It felt amazing," he said. "It's nice to be back somewhere where I've had great memories. But also I'm a little bit under-prepared because of the amount of tennis I've missed.
"The injury I had it wasn't like a couple of weeks. It was eight months. I missed so much competitive tennis and I do feel that.
"He played really good in the first set. It's not easy out here in these conditions. I know from last year these conditions reward someone who looks to the forehand and who's aggressive, especially with the way the ball reacts off the surface. I felt like from the second set I really did that.
"These wins are massive for me, especially on my return to the tour. Hopefully I can keep on progressing from here with how I want to play."
Kartal upsets Navarro to reach third round
Kartal came out the blocks flying in a rematch of her Billie Jean King Cup semi-final clash against Navarro.
The Brit won the opening set in just 18 minutes – dropping only four points on serve – and looked set to seal a stand out win in record time.
However, the 20th seed fought back in the second set and there was cause for concern as Kartal called for a medical timeout.
With the match evenly poised going into the decider, Kartal showed her fighting spirit to deny the former top 10 star two opportunities to serve out the match before dominating the tie-break.
"I had little niggles here and there," Kartal said after the match. "I think I just landed a bit funny on serve and had a bit of a twitch in my back.
"That made me lose a lot of power, I was struggling to generate anything off my shots. I had to dig deep.
“I am just super proud of how I fought through that. It would have been easy to throw in the towel, but it is matches like that which make you super proud of yourself.”
Norrie too good for McDonald
It was a relatively routine win for Norrie – beating world No.126 McDonald in an hour and 22 minutes to reach the third round.
Norrie had to save four break points in a tricky opening game before then breaking himself at 2-1 and then again at 5-2 to see out the set.
The British star hit an impressive 25 winners in two sets and dealt McDonald a decisive blow with a break at 4-3 in the second.
Norrie faces a tough contest with world No.6 De Minaur in the next round who has already lifted a title in Rotterdam and made the quarter-final of the Australian Open this year. They are currently 2-2 in the head-to-head.
