Indian Wells, CA, United States, 9 March 2025 | Matt Trollope

Alex de Minaur outplayed David Goffin again on Saturday evening in the Californian desert to move into the third round of the ATP Masters event at Indian Wells.

After a first-round bye, No.9 seed De Minaur won 6-2 6-2 – his seventh straight victory over Goffin – in just 73 minutes to kick off his tournament in dominant style.

He joins 26th seed and fellow Aussie Alexei Popyrin in the third round, however countrymen Rinky Hijikata and Adam Walton exited in the second round.

Hijikata pushed 32nd seed Brandon Nakashima hard in the first set before falling 7-5 6-1, while Walton, a qualifier, found last month’s Dallas champion and 27th seed Denis Shapovalov too strong.

In the concurrent WTA event, Kim Birrell fell in two tight seeds to Elise Mertens, the No.28 seed.

De Minaur’s victory sets up a third-round meeting against No.21 seed Hubert Hurkacz, a player the Aussie last faced almost six years ago.

And the draw has opened up for the winner of that match; De Minaur or Hurkacz’s fourth-round opponent was projected to be Novak Djokovic, only for the sixth seed to be sensationally eliminated by lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp.

De Minaur has reached the fourth round in three of his past four visits to Indian Wells, but is yet to go further.

He has now won 12 of his 16 matches in 2025 thanks to his win over Goffin, which improves his head-to-head record against the Belgian to a perfect 7-0, plus 14-1 in sets.

7 – David Goffin (7-0) remains one of four opponents Alex de Minaur is undefeated against with 5+ head-to-head matches at ATP level, along with Andy Murray (6-0), Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul (both 5-0). Matchup.#TennisParadise | @BNPPARIBASOPEN @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/zGw1oV5VMU

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) March 9, 2025

While De Minaur will enjoy a rest day on Sunday (California time), Popyrin – in the opposite half of the draw – will face local favourite Marcos Giron.

Popyrin is seeking to go beyond the third round at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the fourth time, and the first since his Masters title at Montreal in August last year.

Also on Sunday, Aussie Olympic gold medallists Matt Ebden and John Peers, who have reunited at Indian Wells, face third seeds and AO 2025 finalists Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the first round of the men’s doubles event.

Jordan Thompson, meanwhile, teams up with Sebastian Korda.

In women’s doubles, Ellen Perez, partnering Jelena Ostapenko, has charged into the quarterfinals thanks to two straight wins.

Perez and Ostapenko, the No.4 seeds and the first team through to the quarters, could next face fifth seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Zhang Shuai.

De Minaur is expected to play his third-round match against Hurkacz on Monday.