BNP Paribas Open: Casper Ruud is upset by qualifier Cristian Garin at Indian Wells

Casper Rudd, the third seed at the BNP Paribas Open, was on the wrong end Sunday of what will likely go down as the biggest upset this year at Indian Wells.

The 6-4, 7-6(2) loss to qualifier Cristian Garin left much of the crowd in stunned silence inside Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The silence soon turned to cheers for Garin, who secured one of the biggest wins of his career in the first match of the day on Stadium Court.

Ruud, the 24-year-old Norwegian tennis star ranked fourth in the world, went down a break to Garin, a Chilean ranked No. 97, in the fifth game of the first set. Garin held serve the rest of the set to put Ruud back on his heels.

Then, with Ruud looking to get back into the match in the second set, Garin went up a break in the third game of the set. He held serve to take a 3-1 lead. Ruud was able to even the score by securing a break of his own, then he held serve to take a 4-3 lead in the set.

But Garin held serve the rest of the way, then controlled the tiebreak, winning it 7-2.

"I'm so happy with the way I played," Garin said. "I played so aggressive the whole match, even in the second set, when it was 3-1 and I lost those games, but I kept playing."

Garin, 26, will play the winner of Karen Khachanov of Russia and Alejandro Fokina of Spain in the Round of 16.

Ruud is having a troubling start to 2023 following a breakthrough year on the World Tour. Ruud won a tournament titles in Buenos Aires, Geneva and Gstaad, Switzerland, and reached the finals at the Miami Open, Roland Garros and the U.S. Open and the ATP Finals last year.

This year, he has won just four of nine matches and has not won more than a single match in any of the five tournaments he’s played.

Garin has now won his third match this year at Indian Wells. He beat Daniel Elahi Galán of Columbia in the first round and 29th-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the second.

This is Garin’s second appearance at Indian Wells, following last year’s win over Ernesto Escobedo of Mexico and loss to Alex de Minaur of Australia.

Andrew John covers the BNP Paribas Open for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Casper Ruud is upset by qualifier at Indian Wells