Andy Murray drowns

French Open champ Stan Wawrinka reached the Indian Wells fourth round while world no. 2 Andy Murray suffered a shock third-round exit at the hands of claycourt specialist Federico Delbonis on Monday.

Wawrinka toppled Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the third round of the ATP and WTA hardcourt tournament and two-time Grand Slam winner Murray lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7) to 53rd-ranked Argentinian Delbonis.

Wawrinka, who turns 31 later this month, has won two titles this year in Chennai and Dubai but has never made it past the quarter-finals in Indian Wells, one of the biggest events on the tennis calendar outside of the four Grand Slams.

Wawrinka next faces 15th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium, who beat Guido Pella 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Murray’s exit left things wide open in the bottom half of the men’s draw, where Wawrinka, Richard Gasquet, Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych all advanced.

Wawrinka is on a nine-match win streak in finals after beating Marcos Baghdatis in Dubai. He captured his third consecutive Chennai crown in January.

Last year he won four titles, including his stunning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 upset win over world no. 1 Novak Djokovic to claim his first French Open crown.

In women’s action, Victoria Azarenka, seeded 13th, defeated China’s Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.

But the event lost another top seed as Swiss seventh seed Belinda Bencic fell to Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. British no. 1 Johanna Konta rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Denisa Allertova.