Don't Miss

ENG

Cricket
Football
NDTV Podcast
Formula 1
Tennis
Golf
Badminton
- Kabaddi
- Boxing
- Athletics
- Chess
- Swimming
- Shooting
- Wrestling
- Table tennis
- Othersports
- NFL
- NBA
- NHL
- US Streamers
- MMA
- WWE

Dark / Light mode

Oct 8,2026 06:39 PM IST

Novak Djokovic Edges Aleksandar Kovacevic To Reach Indian Wells Last 16

facebook

twitter

Settings

Change Font Size

A A
Change Language

हिंदी | Hindi
Focus on Story

Select Language

Languages
हिंदी | Hindi

Dark / Light mode

Featured Links
Featured Sports
- Cricket
- Football
- Formula 1
- Tennis
- Hockey
- Golf
- Badminton
More Sports
- Kabaddi
- Boxing
- Athletics
- Chess
- Swimming
- Shooting
- Wrestling
- Table tennis
- Othersports
More from NDTV
- NDTV
- Business
- Hindi
- Movies
- Cricket
- Health
- Food
- Tech
- Auto
- Apps
- Trains

Tennis

News
Features
Blogs
Photos
Videos
Players
Grand Slams

arrow-down reddit snapchat twitter facebook comments email printer search bell top-nav reddit-fill snapchat-fill twitter-fill facebook-fill share whatsapp-fill bookmark arrow-rgt arrow-next arrow-up refresh close link cog star book zap cricket football tennis formula-1 badminton hockey golf boxing ndtv-n check left-arrow right-arrow

Live Cricket Matches

Cricket Matches
Football Matches
All Matches

India Matches

IPL 2026

Football Matches

Cricket Matches
Football Matches
All Matches

ISL

EPL

All Matches

Cricket Matches
Football Matches
All Matches

India Matches

EPL

Match 11, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier A, 2026 at Bangi, Oct 9, 2026

notify

notify

Kuwait

Bahrain

Fri, Oct 9, 2026 - 6:45 AM IST
Match 10, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier A, 2026 at Kuala Lumpur, Oct 9, 2026

notify

notify

Mongolia

Thailand

Fri, Oct 9, 2026 - 6:45 AM IST
Match 12, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier A, 2026 at Kuala Lumpur, Oct 9, 2026

notify

notify

Qatar

Myanmar

Fri, Oct 9, 2026 - 6:45 AM IST
Match 1, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier B, 2026 at Kuala Lumpur, Oct 8, 2026

China

96 (16.3)

Maldives

100/0 (10.1)

Maldives beat China by 10 wickets
Match 3, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier B, 2026 at Kuala Lumpur, Oct 8, 2026

Malaysia

72/5 (10.0)

Hong Kong, China

140/5 (20.0)

Hong Kong, China beat Malaysia by 7 runs (DLS method)
Match 2, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier B, 2026 at Bangi, Oct 8, 2026

Saudi Arabia

174/7 (20.0)

Singapore

99/7 (20.0)

Saudi Arabia beat Singapore by 75 runs

Sports Home Tennis News Novak Djokovic Edges Aleksandar Kovacevic To Reach Indian Wells Last 16

Story ProgressBack to home

Novak Djokovic Edges Aleksandar Kovacevic To Reach Indian Wells Last 16

Novak Djokovic clawed out a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over 72nd-ranked American Aleksandar Kovacevic on Monday to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time since 2017.

Posted by Tushar Mamgaain
Updated: March 10, 2026 09:16 am IST

Read Time: 3 min

facebook

twitter

E-mail

Novak Djokovic in action© AFP

Novak Djokovic clawed out a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over 72nd-ranked American Aleksandar Kovacevic on Monday to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time since 2017. Djokovic, playing his first tournament since falling to Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open final, had all he could handle from the 27-year-old New Yorker, who peppered the Serb superstar with 16 aces. Djokovic made an early break stand up to take the first set, but Kovacevic had found his groove and rolled through the second against a clearly frustrated Djokovic.

Djokovic regrouped in the third -- finally finding the break he needed in the final game.

"I knew coming into the match that if he serves well and if he picks his spot in the box it's going to be tough to break him," Djokovic said.

"I wasn't maybe feeling my rhythm on that return very well today, but he was just making my life very difficult, returning the serve.

"He was just acing me all over, getting a lot of free points.

"Today was really anybody's game until the last couple of points. That last game in the third where he missed some first serves, gave me looks on the second and I used it. That's pretty much it."

With five Indian Wells titles Djokovic is tied for the record with Swiss great Roger Federer.

But the Serbian superstar hasn't made it to the quarter-finals in the California desert since his last title run in 2016 and now he's had to come through a pair of three-setters to return to the last 16.

He'll face defending champion Jack Draper for a place in the quarter-finals after the Briton beat Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5.

Draper's victory here last year -- featuring a semi-final win over Carlos Alcaraz -- launched his rise to fourth in the world.

But he then missed the better part of six months with an arm injury and arrived in California ranked 14th, his win over Cerundolo marking the first time since June that he's posted back-to-back ATP victories.

Cerundolo served for the second set at 5-4, but a few mistakes gave Draper an opening and the Briton broke back, saving a pair of break points in the next game before finishing it off on Cerundolo's serve.

A pair of top-10 seeds were sent packing as Britain's Cameron Norrie ousted eighth-ranked Australian Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 and Aussie qualifier Rinki Hijikata 10th-ranked Alexander Bublik 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

Hijikata, ranked 117th in the world, claimed his first win over a top-10 player to advance to a meeting with Norrie.

Alcaraz, riding a 13-0 match winning streak as he chases a third Indian Wells title, headlined the night session, taking on France's Arthur Rinderknech.

The 22-year-old Spaniard's Australian Open triumph made him the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam, and he followed up with a title in Doha in February.

Now Alcaraz is aiming to return to the winner's circle in Indian Wells, where his bid for a third straight title last year was derailed by Draper in the semi-finals.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)