Bencic, Ivanovic stunned at Indian Wells

Swiss seventh seed Belinda Bencic and former champion Ana Ivanovic have both been sent packing in third-round action at the BNP Paribas Open in California.

Bencic was stunned by Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 3-6 6-3 while Serbian former world No.1 Ivanovic was beaten by Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-0 on Monday.

The 97th-ranked Rybarikova eliminated Australia’s Daria Gavrilova in her previous match.

After an uneven start at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, 18th seed Pliskova’s game clicked into gear in spectacular fashion, reeling off 10 consecutive games to close out her one-sided victory.

Ivanovic entered the tournament fresh off a run to the quarterfinals and semifinals in Dubai and St Petersburg, respectively, while Pliskova had suffered a couple of early exits in the Middle East

Pliskova, perhaps, perked up in seeing Ivanovic across the net. She had won all three of her previous encounters with Ivanovic, including earlier this year in Sydney.

“We’ve played a few times already and I’ve always won. But I think I played really good tennis today and I’m happy that I made (the next round) so fast,” said Pliskova, who powered 18 winners.

Next up for Pliskova will be Britain’s Johanna Konta, who advanced 6-4 6-1 over Czech Denisa Allertova, who had conquered second-seeded Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the previous round.

Rybarikova advanced to another challenging test against US Open runner-up Roberta Vinci.

The ninth-seeded Italian hurried past Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-1 6-3 to book her spot in the fourth round.