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Tennis News: Felix Auger Aliassime bled after being hit by his own racquet but remained undefeated to claim a 7-5, 6-4 win over Francisco Cerundolo in the third round of the 2023 BNP Paribas Open season, Indian Wells.

At 2-0 in the first set, the Canadian tennis player accidentally hit her chin with the racquet when returning the serve from Argentinian Cerundolo. He immediately rushed to the bench for treatment before returning to the pitch to book a place in the fourth round after struggling for 2 hours and 10 minutes.

The eighth seed played aggressively throughout the game. He overcame 27th seed Cerundolo and held off a shaky match as he looked to seal the game. After failing to capitalize on a 5-2 lead, the eighth seed finally sealed victory by converting a fifth match point opportunity and now leads 2-0 head to head.

At the BNP Paribas Open this week, the Canadian is aiming for the first Masters title of her career and the first title of the 2023 season. She will rise to 7th place in the world with a tenth victory during the 2023 season.

Auger Aliassime, 22, will look for better results in Indian Wells after early exits in Adelaide, the Australian Open and Dubai.

Auger Aliassime, who has won four titles, has made four quarter-finals appearances in his last five Masters 1000 tournaments and he will be looking to make his sixth bid when he takes on local Tommy Paul in the last 16 of the BNP Paribas Open.

Meanwhile, 17th seed Paul continues to impress after managing to beat ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

In front of his own home crowd, he displayed extraordinary agility, moving throughout the baseline area to overcome hard knocks from Polish national Hurkacz before claiming victory in 1 hour 54 minutes.

Paul, who fired 26 winners throughout the game, now holds Hurkacz to a 1-1 draw in their head to head. He is currently ranked 19th in the world after enjoying a strong start to the 2023 season.

Paul reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open before advancing to the final in Acapulco. He is now 14-4 in the 2023 season.

Keywords: Tennis, BNP Paribas Open, Felix Auger Aliassime, Francisco Cerundolo, Tommy Paul, Hubert Hurkacz