Yoshihito Nishioka fought off a first-set loss and rallied to defeat Tomas Berdych 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 Monday to advance to the men's singles fourth round at the BNP Paris Open.
Nishioka, currently 70th in the world rankings, overcame a scorching 35 C desert heat at Indian Wells Tennis Garden to cap his victory over the former world No. 4 from the Czech Republic with a service ace that clocked 179 kph.
The 21-year-old was no match for Berdych in the first set and had one foot out the door when he fell behind 5-2 in the second set. But he took advantage of attacking opportunities and forced a tiebreak, which he won 7-5 to gain control of the game.
Helped by the shade that fell on the hard court in the third set, Nishioka regained his momentum and hit solid returns, while Berdych struggled with five double faults.
"To be honest I didn't think I would win. I was going to see how far I'd get but my opponent collapsed," said Nishioka, who was playing with a bandaged right calf.
Later in the women's singles, Naomi Osaka suffered a 6-1, 6-4 third-round defeat to ninth-seeded American Madison Keys in a match that lasted 59 minutes.
In the women's doubles, the pair of Shuko Aoyama and China's Yang Zhaoxuan advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 10-8 victory over the U.S./Kazakhstan pair of Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova.