2026 Indian Wells Day 2 Recap

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1:01You're not only empowering your child with a premium personalized education, you're also enabling them to thrive. In both their academic and athletic pursuits, start the school year off right and visit Laurel Springs.com today. To learn more, you can join them for an upcoming virtual open house and learn more about every program, every resource they offer, again, go to Laurel Springs.com to start your school year off right. Laurel Springs, a proud partner of Crack Crackles. Welcome to many parts of your day in college for the biggest school lunch results in college. From the next world, it's Thursday, March 5, day 2 of your deed wells just about wrapped up starting tonight's podcast at 10.9 pm Pacific Time Y, is that a relevant fact for

2:06all of you tennis fans? Well, it's because still out on court right now that Capriva lead two-time NCAA singles champion, Michael Zang, 7652. I am assuming Capriva is going to be able to close things out, and thus I feel comfortable beginning tonight's recording. It was a fantastic day two of action, a day two that, of course, saw the second half of the opening round of singles play. It sets up one of my favorite round twos. I can remember in recent 1000 level event history, I know that sounds hyperbolic, but you've got some barn burners for all of the seeds kicking off their action in round number two. Certainly, if we're going to get the same sepicoorda we got tonight in his round two matchup against Alex Dimanoher, that's a clear your schedule, sort of round two encounter, of course, want to offer my thoughts on that court of victory. Of course, I had a front row seat, the opportunity to broadcast his match tonight with Bradley Clon for our friends at tennis channel.

3:07Oh, by the way, also I had the chance to broadcast one of the best matches of the day, men's or women's draw as Catarina Sinyak of a snaps a 17 match losing streak. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, in the last 17 matches that she had dropped the opening set, she ultimately went on to drop the match. That was not the case today. And to see her overcome tonight's version of Sophia Cannon, a cannon who looked a lot like her 2020 Australian open winning self in set number one was a heck of a performance from the 29 year old from Czechia and thus again, want to offer my thoughts on her victory, want to offer my thoughts on all the opening round victories we saw across the men's women's singles events here on day number two. For those of you curious and again, so grateful to so many of you who have been kind enough to reach out and offer support for my efforts this week, broadcasting for tennis channel that TC app. For those curious, I have the coolest opportunity tomorrow.

4:09I get to call Coco Gough. I get to call Yannick Sinner on stadium one court. You can listen to my coverage over on the tennis channel app. I'm immensely grateful to the team at tennis channel for the opportunity. I'm immensely grateful to all of you listeners who tune in without whom, of course, I would not have this opportunity, yeah, going to be a fun weekend, going to be a fun stretch here as certainly I always enjoy my four rays across the country here in the month of March. Always grateful, of course, again, to all of you listeners for your continued support through it all. And of course, if you haven't subscribed, this podcast, great shout out, podcast, crack interviews, podcast feed, our crack records, YouTube channel, the CR Instagram, a lot of good content across platforms as we, of course, try to make sure all of you tennis fans stay up to date on everything happening across levels in the tennis world. Of course, the reason we can do that on this podcast day in day out is, of course, because of the support we get from our friends at the Lowell Springs School and to learn more about why they continue to rank amongst the top private online schooling options in the country. Visit LowellSprings.com today.

5:09Lowell Springs, a proud partner of the mini break podcast feed. All right. Let's break down day two of this 2026 Indian Wells events. Let's start with our women's singles action. Of course, it was that bottom half of the draw in play today. You could argue the most impressive performance was, again, the victory I had the opportunity to call Caterina Sinyaka, one six, six four, six one, knocks off Sofia Kennan. You had three different chapters within this match. Chapter one was all about Sofia Kennan, a Sofia Kennan, who by the way, led six, one, four, three, set in a break in this match. Obviously, it goes on to lose what nine of the final 10 games in this one. There's the first chapter that saw her race out to a four love lead play with the sort of pinpoint accuracy, the diversity and shot selection, the firepower that just is a reminder of the talent that Kennan possesses, that shot making.

6:13She's been capable of that since she was 12, 13 years old, one of the best American juniors of the 2010s. I mean, she's a fucking slam champion. I think that speaks to her talent and just to see her getting outside the ball, the shape of when she pulls a ball cross-court, that ball is moving left to right, right to left, outside and into the alley, stretching into the outer thirds, and she's mixing in the drop shot. I can't remember the last time I saw her return as well, as she did through the first set of this match. Kennan was dominant. She was picking on the Catarina Sinyakava forehand, punishing any slice that sat in the cord, punishing every serve that just kept going into her body. It was the best version of Sokvia Kennan. I know she's had her moments, right? The run of the Charleston final last year, Tokyo, I'd say my finals, I think at the end of the year, Tokyo final, end of the year, the year before that, her run in Mexico, the in 2023, like she has her pockets of success, right? Sokvia Kennan, Sophia, excuse me, has those weeks, this felt like it was going to be one

7:18of those days that maybe leads to one of those weeks, and given she would have had what a second round matchup against Leila Fernandez, certainly I think that's an advantageous draw relative to what it might otherwise be, legitimately, legitimately was starting to forecast, okay, like, whoa, what is this mean for the tournament moving forward? And then it's a credit to Katarina Sinyakava, who started hitting through the backhand much more definitively throughout set number two, even as she went down a break, split bad service game three, four, but again got that break back, Kennan played the worst service game of the match, and this has been the story of Kennan's last half-decade, as you have 10 minutes of brilliance followed by these three unforgivable minutes that may ultimately compromise her within the match, that final service game serving four, five, Kennan goes back to back double faults to start the game, missed two plus one balls, and ultimately a third double fault on the set point to see the set to Katarina Sinyakava, now she

8:20fought off a couple of set points in between there, but five unforgivers to gift that second set away, after again she was up a set and four three, a set and a break, just never found any sort of footing in set number three, as Sinyakava got more and more comfortable hitting through the backhand, hit through her forehand, not just playing the slice when she was pushed into corners, playing the backhand line, oh god when she drives through, getting better reads on the Kennan serve, Sinyakava found her rhythm, and Kennan just started producing error after error, and again that four or five service game was just a nightmare, the nightmare that kind of epitomizes again the vicious swings that have lived within this last half decade of the Kennan story, it's probably the most fascinating career of the 2020s, and we've had a lot of fascinating careers, like again if we didn't have to live in the day to day cycle, and I should do this more on the great chef podcast, but I'm not traveling, perhaps we will do this more, like we don't talk about the Ashley Barney

9:20career enough, the ending to Simona Halips career, like that's its own hour long podcast, or being Mugaroza ending her career early, to each their own do what you want, like when you've lost the drive, you've lost the drive, but like all things Cretchicova, her injuries and sprinkled in between slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Von Thrucava, her story, like obviously I haven't mentioned the big one, and Marana Kanu, there are so many different fascinating subplots of these 2020s, obviously we're on the right end of the Reba of the Nisimova story, we're on the right end of the Reba in a story, two fascinating careers, let's not lose sight of the Sofia Kanut story. She's under 500 since the start of the 2021 season, again 2020, she's in her early 20s, she wins a slam title in Melbourne, post pandemic she comes back and makes the slam final in Roland Garros, and is under 500, and about 200 batches she's played since the start of

10:27the 2021 season, yes, injuries have played a factor, but there's just more to the story that needs to be told, because there's still pockets of brilliance, like the shot when the shot making is in form, it's just like, oh, wow, you really can do all of the things. It's again, hopefully someday she will share that story candidly with all of us, because boy, what I love to pick, Sonya Kanut's brain, and just figure out what's gone on. Now again, great win for the 29-year-old Catarina Sinyakova, she was three in six on the year entering the match, by the way, seven straight losses for Ken, since she won her first match of the season, for Sinyakova again, she had lost 17 consecutive matches where she had dropped the opening set, nice to get a three-set come from behind win to boost the confidence, okay, I can still do that, I'm never out of these battles, and it's a very winable match for her, even if she has struggled with Leyla Fernandez on hard courts throughout the course of their career. But NTN Wells ain't your standard hard court, it's playing a little faster, but again,

11:29once those windy conditions pick up especially at night, yeah, things slow down real quick. That for me was the win of the day, of course, I had the chance to be on the call for that, one had the chance to be on the call for the final set of what was Dion Perry's 636761 win over Venus, the win was brutal, and there were times for both of these players where the steps were just off, and some of the swings were ugly. Perry was just crisper, in set number three, played the big targets in the outer third got Venus on the stretch, no, Venus had her chances, break point chance, over cooks in inside out forehand to get the early break for 2-1 in the third root, when that opportunity slipped away, everything sort of slipped from there, again, just didn't have it down the home stretch, so Perry, the three set win knocks out the great champion, Venus Williams, win of the day on the women's side, wild card, Donna Vecch, 6 and 6, over Teresa Valentova, it's her biggest victory of the season, it's her biggest victory in quite some time, Donna Vecch, right now sitting at 118 in the world, she needed, needed to have that victory,

12:32now isn't handed any sort of gift after the win, now she's got 5th seeded Jessica Pagula, but that's a massive victory, tough loss for the teenager, Valentova, but great to see Vecch get through, in a moment again against the big swing, Valentova took her swings, Vecch was really good down the line down the home stretch, Vecch moved really well in that match, my most impressive performance of the day, throw Hayley Baptiste on that list as well, Baptiste grinding her way through 2-6-6-2-6-3 over Emiliana Arango, again, Arango is a backboard, she's going to ask the most of you, Baptiste found the right balance between aggression and consistency knowing, okay if I buy my time, my opportunity will come, 3-set victory for Hayley Baptiste, good win, set up a brutal match up though, of course for Baptiste, has next up a date with 3rd seeded Elena Rabakina, shout out Ashlyn Kruger, again, finally got some momentum going in Austin, see how it helps 1-4 Vecchery for her

13:35over Magdalena, Antonio Ruzic, keeping the good times rolling, 3-set win for her over Gen Brady, I mean Taylor Townsend, keeps it rolling, the Austin finalists qualifying into the main draw, then 2-1 over Bogecova, that's hell of a win, fascinating match up, coming up between her and Marta Kostjuk, round 2, oh, and then let's not forget the most important, Lily Tagger, 6-2, 6-4, Knox Outgrauch of a blockbuster match up between her and Maria Sockery in round number 2, Bukesha for an over vid, Benova, I just didn't want to hurt my own feelings, some really fun round 2 matches set up on the women's side, yeah, you had some 3-set battle, 3 sets over Marc Chinko, again, Ruzic, 3 sets over Gen Brady, nice to see Gen in that fight even if you could tell, again, that lack of match callousness hurting her down the home stretch, but boy, we've got some awesome day 2 blockbusters, round 2 block, excuse me, we've got some round 2 blockbusters now set up on the women's

14:35side, things may even be more exceptional on the men's, and I think it's more acceptable, well, again, it's because on the women's side, we know who the best players in the world are, and yeah, we're going to get to see them hopefully round 4, quarters, et cetera, do battle, on the men's side, it's the parody 4 through 36, and it's like, okay, we'll finally get to see you all do battle, let's try and figure out this pecking order here in round number 2, and how is that set up? Well, it's on the back of some really fun, again, really fun, day 2 singles results on the men's side, again, for me, it starts with Sebi Korda, there were four breaks in the opening service game between, in the opening four service games between he and Francisco Komasagna, ultimately though, once Korda found his footing on the serve, everything else followed, a clinic of plus one tennis is forehand, blitzing through the cord inside out, Korda was awesome, and the 756 love victory of Komasagna just so thoroughly, overwhelmed the 25-year-old Argentine, as by the way, of course, he should on this surface, moved well, again, the first serve was all, he did not

15:42land a first serve in his opening service game, got broken, he landed just two first serves and his first two service games combined, got broken in each of them, he handed one more break away in the opening set, there were seven total breaks, but again, he finds the late break, he finds the separation, and then the clean sheet, the rest of the way, it was a clinic of first strike tennis, and he played Komasagna evenly in the long points as well, he's heating up, there's just no doubt, sebi Korda is starting to heat up, finals of that San Diego challenge are obviously loses to fight up, but just to play five matches in a week, remind yourself, okay, I can do this, Korda finals Dallas, three sets, seven six in the third loss to Fritz, then of course, beats rude, caboli, and Paul, on his way to that Del Rey title, sebi Korda is heating up, chance for another blockbuster victory, as of course, he takes on Alex Dimonauer in round two, and by the way, I posited this theory on the broadcast to Bradley Clon, it's not going to be a new one, an unfamiliar one to mini break podcast listeners, is the best version of Sebastian Korda, when he

16:47plays his absolute best tennis, does he have the most traits of any of the American men right now in the field? Like the most complete, like does he look the part best in terms of the smoothness, the compact deliveries off of both wings, the size of the first serve, the physicality he can bring. You know, again, who has the highest upside? For me, that question's an obvious one, you just go with Ben, you have his serve, and all the other foundational pieces, his competitive instincts as well, like give me Ben, God, what is he going to look like at 27, I cannot wait to find out, but boy, like there's a smoothness to sebi Korda, every time I see it, it's the backhand, how again, it's just like, it just should work, it just should work, I know Komasani on a hard court, that's not a litmus test for elite play, I don't care, it should fucking work, like it's just, I'm not selling

17:49my sebi Korda stock, you can't make me not ever, he's still just 25, I'm not going to do it, not going to do it, folks. Yes, sebi was awesome today, in a straight set victory over Komasani, particularly that set number two, he was not your performer of the day though, you got to give it to the fat Greek or Dimitrov grinds his way through the big swing and lefty Terrence Atman, 6'4", 5'7", 6'4", a couple good wins, a lot of good wins on the side, you know, Borges, 6'5", in a war, with Emilio Navi, how about Alexander Kovasovich? I think he lost something like 12 in a row, something crazy at the 1000s, 6'6", he knocks off who be Hurkonts, that's a heck of a victory, Jake Furnley gets one, he had to have three and three over, zoom her, Baez, Baez is again, let's not forget, sebi Baez has looked like one of the 20 best players in the world through this first two months of the season, yeah, he should overwhelm Jason Sank, who doesn't have a massive weapon to hurt him with, three and two though, looked the part today, a Mackie, Owen, one over our onalty, damn,

18:56one man well, Sarandolo, 6'3", in the third over Vandesenschkulp, good victories on the man side again, a lot of fun ones, it's the barn burners, the barn burners of round two matches, Alcharez vs Dimitrov, that's round number two, Corda vs Dimonauer, that's round number two, La Hachka vs Baez, round number two, Mikkelsen Umbair's really good, round number two, if you forget everything we've seen through the first month of this two months of the season, Rubelev Diallo is really good, I haven't probably even mentioned the best two yet, Brooks B of course, taking on Francis Tiafah, it's a must for Americans, by the way, Slash, Shelton Opelka, great match on paper, I don't know how long the points are, if we're going to be between those two men, so I don't know how aesthetically pleasing that matchup will be, but sure on paper it's great, and then oh by the way, it's Ferev vs Baratini, like there are others I left out, Fonseca Hachanov, I forgot about that one, Geron Menchik's really fun as well, oh, there are some good matches on

20:04the board, and we need them, we need them, because again, every week, and I know I didn't have much movement in my ATP top 10, pretty sunshine swing, compared to where we were at the end of January, it's because we didn't get enough top seed data points, or even like all guys in the mix, and we're probably still around before the, we were in the guys in the mixed territory, but Dimitra wants to be a guy in the mix against Alcharez, let's find out how real cordo's guy in the mix status is against Alcharez, Fonseca vs Hachanov, go win that match Fonseca, I think Riley's playing the best ball of his career, can he get a signature win over Ben? I got to call Baratini, if we get the set two, set three version of Mateo, he is going to push a Sasha's Vera, of course, he beat in Monte Carlo last year, yeah, these matches are really good, across the board, I'm very happy with how our opening round played up, filled with anticipation for what we will see unfold in round number two. Again, top performers on the day will go Dimitra

21:11one, because it's a really good, no, we're not going to go Dimitra one, we'll go, who's your win of the day? I guess Dimitra is the win of the day, he'll be won by as impressed me most, and then Kovah is going to get the three spots, six and six, that's another first match exit for Herkats, it's also five in a row, again, Quinn, Dom, Bublick, Menshik, Kavasavich, across those matches he's played two, four, five, seven different tie breaks, who we Herkats is holding serve 92.6% of the time this year, he's five and six overall, it's because he's breaking only seven point five percent of the time, that's crazy, what a split, that's, that's him trying to find his sea legs, it's went on script when he can land first serves, still looks really good, it's the rest of the game, 29 years old, trying to reactimate two, again, that's where things stand coming out of the opening round of singles playing your men's and women's singles draw now again as we look towards day number three, there are some delicious

22:14matchups on the board, certainly obviously they're the high profile players right, and I get to the chance to call two of them, by the way, worth note it, Michael's saying this is my fault, never doubt a two time NCAA singles champion, that's on me, that's our guy too, hope someone plays them this when he comes back in wins in, five six back on serve with Capriva in that second set, still as you look towards day three, I mean what's the best match on the calendar, the all-american battles, second and third on stadium two, Shelton versus Opelka, big serving, behemoths going at it, I'm telling you, for highly plays like he did against DQ, if he plays like he has all season block, at least playing top 50 ball again, it's not just serves either, guy can scoot, tough test for Ben in what we broke down, yes, it's just a brutal quarter, four Ben Shelton, Brooks B. Tiafo, it's just two people who like to do it a little different rematch, by the way, the Houston final last year, Brooks B. Tiafo, right, so a little extra

23:16Hutzpah, perhaps in that one, I mean Felix versus Mold Fees, he's really good as well, there's Garon versus Menchick, Fees versus Prismich for us, Slappies of course, we love it, by the way, those are just the men's matches, the women's side tomorrow, what are the ones you stop and book your schedule around, I think the lefty him and his cast in save of the recent top 100 deputy taught, we just haven't seen Naomi Osaka in a little bit, him and his cast in save of his match tough, that could absolutely be upset territory for Osaka, I mean the best tennis has happened on stadium three for the women the two night matches, Yovic versus Sorio, Eva Yovic just must watch, has looked like one of the 20 best players in the world and is still just again a teenager, now she's back in her home state, taken on a Kamiya Sorio who's playing better ball, and what is for me, one of my break or break all stars, love that one, Yala versus Yostremska is just going to be electric, best quality tennis, Schneider versus

24:21Kersteya, second on stadium four, Serona Kersteya, what was the number I said yesterday, it's like 32 and 10, something crazy since the start of that Cleveland run, that's really really good tennis across the board on the men's, women's side, so we'll be locked in, as round two action begins on day number three, of course again I will be on the call for the matches on stadium third on fourth seeded Coco Gough, taking on Kamiya Raikimova, of course you've got Yanaxinna, taking on Dela Boer, server Kina to kick off the night section after that, I'm going to be better pronouncing his name by tomorrow, that I promise all of you tennis fans, I also promise we'll be back to update you on all of it as it continues to unfold, of course the reason we can do that day and day out because of the support we get from all of you crack brackets, fans immensely grateful for it, of course immensely grateful for the support I get day and day out from our dear super producer Daniel Westoff, best in the business at what he does, shout out to him, shout out of course as well, the support we get from our front of the little