The French Constant Lestienne, against the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, and Lucas Pouille, against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, were beaten in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells (California, United States) on Friday. Their compatriot Varvara Gracheva fell against the Chinese Yue Yuan in the first round, a step that Alexandre Müller took.
Lestienne (31), out of qualifying then winner of his first round on Thursday, suffered the law in two sets from Auger-Aliassime, Canadian world number 31 (6-4, 6-1), who could find himself in the 3rd turn the Spanish title holder Carlos Alcaraz.
Lucas Pouille, who hopes for a lasting return to the high level, was dominated by the world No.11, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-3, 6-2). Pouille did not get any break points, never finding the key against an opponent who dominated him for the fourth time in as many matches. The 30-year-old Frenchman, semi-finalist at the Australian Open in 2019, however won three matches in California coming out of qualifying before taking out German Daniel Altmaier, beating members of the Top 100 for the first time for almost two years.
The Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva (23 years old), whose first round was interrupted by rain on Thursday, ended up losing on Friday against the Chinese Yue Yuan (6-4, 6-1), winner of the WTA 250 in Austin (Texas) last week.
Alexandre Müller was unable to start his first round on Thursday: he beat his compatriot Hugo Grenier (7-6, 7-5) on Friday, who eliminated him in the first round of the Australian Open in January. “I’m happy to have won, I lost a cruel match in Australia with two match points, there was a bit of tension on my side, I’m happy to have come out of it,” explained Müller, who will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday.