BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells 2025: Katie Boulter & Cam Norrie exit in third round to top 10 seeds
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Katie Boulter and Cam Norrie’s Indian Wells campaign came to an end in the third round as both Brits exited in straight sets to former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and 10th seed Tommy Paul respectively.
British No.1 Boulter had the chance to serve for a decider but a strong performance from Rybakina saw the seventh seed through to the fourth round with a 6-0, 7-5 win.
In a match with nine breaks of serve, Paul managed to clinch a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Norrie in an hour and 34 minutes.
Tomorrow will see Jack Draper take on American Jenson Brooksby, while rising star Sonay Kartal will play world No.60 Polina Kudermetova. Both matches will be available to watch live exclusively on Sky Sports and NOW TV.
Boulter comeback thwarted by former champion
It was a blistering start for 2023 champion Rybakina, who came out of the blocks flying and broke Boulter on her first three service games to take the set in just 26 minutes.
Boulter – who has been out with injury in recent weeks – found a way to reset in the second set and took the match to the big-hitting Kazakh. After getting herself on the board, the British No.1 capitalised on a poor service game from the former Wimbledon champion mid-way through the second set to clinch her first break opportunity to go 5-3 in front.
The 28-year-old Bit had the chance to serve for a deciding third set but couldn’t find a way to get over the line. Rybakina showed wicked reactions to block a driven backhand past Boulter, which set up a third break point before taking it with a cleanly struck forehand winner.
Serving to stay in the match at 6-5 Boulter struggled with her ball toss in the sun, which appeared to impact her performance. Facing her first match point, Boulter couldn’t find a serve and the double fault meant that Rybakina moves on to the next round.
Norrie loses close battle with home-favourite Paul
2021 champion Norrie leaves Indian Wells having made positive strides for the rest of his 2025 season, having picked up wins against Italy’s Luca Nardi and world No.24 Jiri Lehecka.
In his clash with Paul, Norrie struggled to build any sort of momentum on serve. The former British No.1 made only 37% of his first serves and despite coming back from 3-1 down to level at 3-3, he was unable to hold off the all-out attack from his opponent.
Both players stepped it up in the second set and from 4-2, 30-0 down, Norrie showed his fighting spirit to once again get back on serve and give himself a chance to force a decider.
He 29-year-old Brit had a game point at 6-5 down to take the second set to a tie-break, but snatched at a wild cross court backhand, sending it into the trams. With the shoe on the other foot and with Paul having set up his first match point, Norrie hit his second double fault of the match to bring an end to his run in the desert.
“It was a super weird match, a lot of breaks,” Paul said after the match. “I think I started the match pretty well, tried to play some aggressive tennis but it was an up and down match on both sides. Today was just about competing.”
