Right so now onto part 2 of my blog posts on the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, the first ATP 1000 Masters series and WTA Premier Mandatory tennis tournaments of the season. So let's have a quick look at the 3rd round and some of the 4th round matches that took place over the last two days.
OK starting with the lasses, Victoria Azarenka, the top seed and defending champion had a tough time of it to start off with against her opponent, Kirstin Flipkens, as she got off to a ropey start and dropped the opening set. However Vika fought her way back in and broke in the 2nd set to level the match, and in the 3rd, Victoria took full control as she blasted past Flipkens, giving her opponent a bagel set to go home with, as Vika secured her place in the 4th round with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win. And in the 4th round Victoria went on to face, the younger sister of Agnieszka, Ursula Radwanska, who just like her sister against Vika was no match for her, as the Belarusian breezed past her in 6-3, 6-1. This sees Victoria looking pretty good and to remain on course for her title defence, and not only that she continues to remain unbeaten in 2013, with 17 matches now behind her, so we shall see how long she can keep the run going.
In other ladies matches we had Sam Stosur, who has had a tougher time of it so far, but she managed to reach the 3rd round after beating Peng Shuai of China in 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, and in the 4th round, Stosur faced another stiff challenge as she played Mona Barthel, who she defeated in a tough 3 setter with a score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Its pretty good to see Sam in good form so far in this tournament as she has battled well to get through to the quarter finals, however things don't get any easier from here. Which brings me to Stosur next opponent, Angelique Kerber who made it through to the quarter finals as well, and enroute she beat Yanina Wickmayer in the 3rd round in a topsy turvey match, where in the 2nd set Angie came from a break down to level and win the tiebreak and the match with a 6-1, 7-6 score. And in the 4th round Kerber went on to face the Spanish player, Gabrine Muguruza, whom she overcame in 6-4, 7-5.
Moving onto other matches, Maria Sharapova so far has also a tricky time of it, as she played Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain (popular country for players) and fought her way to a straight sets win in 7-5, 6-3. And in the 4th round, Maria again met some stern resistance against Lara Vecino (again of Spain!) who went toe to toe with the Russian in the 1st set, but she still went on to win it, and in the 2nd set, Sharapova dominated the match and ended it with a bagel for the Spaniard, with a 7-5, 6-0 win. Sharapova will next go on to face Sara Errani in the quarter finals who so far has had it relatively easy in Indian Wells, as she beat Marion Bartoli to reach the quarter finals in just 6-3, 6-2. Petra Kvitova also made it to the quarter finals as well as she played Lesia Tsurenko in the 3rd round and beat her in 6-2, 7-5, and in the 4th round she sped to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Klara Zakopalova. In the quarter finals, Petra will play Maria Kirilenko who stunned Agnieszka Radwanska in the 4th round, as the two of them battled it out, with the Russian prevailing in 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
And finally Caroline Wozniacki also made good progress to the quarter finals as she beat Elena Vesnina in just 6-2, 6-1, although she had a tougher time of it against Nadia Petrova as she battled her way to victory with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This will see a potentially mouth watering clash set up for Caroline with Victoria Azarenka, and the two of them haven't played for two years since this very event, where Vika retired with injury. Hopefully this time we will get a treat as it would be great to see the two of them go at it, because I think it could be quite a match, although Vika has said her ankle was troubling her on court, but hopefully she will be fine for the match, as it could be a real cracker.
Right now onto the men's quickly, and to start off we had Andy Murray who had a tricky but relatively easy encounter with Lu-Yen-Shun of Thaiwan who came out firing in the first set, putting Andy in real pressue. However the British No.1 managed to maintain his nerve and his serve (more importantly) as he went on to close out the match with ease in the 2nd set, with a 6-3, 6-2 win to see him progress to the 4th round of Indian Wells for the first time in three years. Next up Andy faced Carlos Berlocq from Argentina in the 4th round, where he had a tough encounter with the Argentine, and he not only struggled with his opponent's game, but also his very loud grunting. In the 9th game of the first set with Andy being broken by Berlocq, he soon got angry with Berlocq's very loud and erratic grunting, as he complained to the umpire about how distracting it was. Berlocq also complained about Andy taking too long between points, so I can imagine there would be no love lost between them after this match, although their handshake was pretty amicable at the net. Regardless of that Andy is now into the quarter finals. So in the quarter finals, Andy will play another Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, which promises to be quite a cracker of a match. Andy leads their head to head 5-1, but big Delpo will be very dangerous and he is in on form this week also so it will be tough for Andy to get past him.
Now onto the World No.1, Novak Djokovic who after a dicy first set with his opponent Grigor Dimitrov, regained control and dominated the second set as he raced to victory with a 7-6, 6-1 scoreline. This was a good match in the first set and Dimitrov showed he is a dangerous player, and at one point he was even 5-3 up, however he fell foul to the old nerves as choked on serve and he couldn't close out the set, and before we knew it, it was all Nole for the 2nd set. So this will see Nole face the man who inflicted his last defeat on him last year in Paris, Sam Querrey, but can he do the same this time????? As it happened, no he couldn't, as Djokovic eased past Querrey in straight sets, which were at the extreme ends of easy and tough. In the 1st set Nole raced to a bagel set in just under 20 minutes, but the 2nd set was the match in itself, where Querrey broke back after going a break down and he pushed the set to a tiebreak. But it was Nole that came through sealing his place in the quarter finals with a 6-0, 7-6 win. Next up Novak will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter finals, so that promises to be a really good one.
As for Roger Federer well he is looking effortlessly great so far, with another easy straight set win against Ivan Dodig in the 3rd round as he raced past the Croatian in 6-3, 6-1. This sets up a clash between his fellow Swiss, Stan Wawrinka, which turned out to be a real pitch battle between the two men, as they went at it hammer and tongs, with Wawrinka fighting back from a set down to level the match in the 2nd set tiebreak. However Federer eventually prevailed in the 3rd set as he once again defeated his compatriot with a gruelling 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 win. Tomas Berdych also made quick progress against Florian Mayer, as he sped to a 6-4, 6-1 victory, which will set up a clash with Richard Gasquet, who made it past big Jerzy Janowicz with a 6-,1 6-4 win. And finally Jo Wilfried Tsonga had a tougher test as he fought past Mardy Fish, who made has a comeback here, after being out with heart problems, and the Frenchman eventually saw him off in 7-6, 7-6, and he battled past Milos Raonic in 3 sets with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win to reach the quarter finals.
And finally finally, as for Rafa well he got a walkover in the 3rd round as his opponent Leo Mayer withdrew with a back injury, and he will next face the in form Ernests Gulbis in the 4th round. To be honest I sincerely hope Rafa beats Gulbis, as I really don't care for him, as he comes across as an arrogant tosser, with quite an attitude on court, as during his match with Andreas Seppi in the 3rd round he kept smashing racquets and throwing tantrums, and afterwards said "I should have beaten him easier than I did, as I played better than him throughout the match". And thankfully Rafa did just that although he had a tough time in putting away the cocky Gulbis, and he had to come from a set to down battle his way past him with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory. This will set up a potentially exciting clash between Rafa and his old rival Roger Federer, and hopefully it will live up to its billing, as they haven't played since this event a year ago, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
So that's it for now, more will follow once the quarter final matches are complete.
Till the next time, bye the now!
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