Paul and Giron were the first two of the five to advance to the round of 16, winning their third-round matches on Sunday—Paul, the No. 10 seed here, snapped a three-match losing streak against 2021 Indian Wells champion Cam Norrie with a 6-3, 7-5 victory, while Giron, who’s unseeded, took out his second straight seed, edging No. 26 seed Alexei Popyrin, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Giron had upset the No. 4 seed, Casper Ruud, in the second round.
Fritz, Nakashima and Shelton all won their third-round matches on Monday, starting with Fritz, who dropped the first set but then cruised against Alejandro Tabilo, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Nakashima then beat Matteo Arnaldi, 6-2, 6-4, followed by Shelton’s aforementioned victory over Khachanov.
Fritz, Shelton and Nakashima are the No. 3, No. 11 and No. 32 seeds here.
With Shelton and Nakashima playing each other next, there’s guaranteed to be at least one American man into the quarterfinals, with up to four if the other three all win their respective fourth-round matches.
