Right OK so here is part 2 of my look at the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, which will cover the latest action of the ladies and men's event which is the first Premier Mandatory (WTA) and 1000 Masters (ATP) level tournaments of the year (they are the biggest titles outside the slams and the year end championships). So let's gie it a look...
So to start with the ladies we had a few upsets starting with the defending champion Maria Sharapova who's had a rather slow comeback just like Andy Murray so far this year, as she suffered a surprise defeat to the Italian player, Camila Ciorgi, who stunned the Russian in 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. This certainly shows that Maria is making pretty slow progress in her comeback so far and similar to Andy it may take her time before she will manage to get herself back on top of her game. Next up we had the former champion and last year's finalist, Caroline Wozniacki suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the back in form Jelena Jankovic who thrashed the Dane in 6-3, 6-1. Petra Kvitova also fell at the hands of the pint sized Dominika Cibulkova who defeated Petra with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win. And Sam Stosur also fell to the Italian player who has recently shown good form again, Flavia Pennetta, as Pennetta battled to victory in 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
As for other matches we had Simona Halep, who has been in red hot form lately who has made her way into the semi finals having battled past Luci Safarova and Eugenie Bouchard both in three sets before dismissing the Aussie player, Casey Dellacqua in just 6-2, 6-2. Halep has made an amazing meteoric rise over the last 12 months and she already won titles on all surfaces and even remarkably she has won the final of every tournament she has reached (seven so far and counting) so for me she remains a favourite to win the title or at least reach the final. Agnieszka Radwanska who has shown good form again of late also managed to battle her to the semi finals as she defeated Jelena Jankovic in a tough three set scrap in 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Li Na, the current Australian Open champion had a rematch of her final with Dominika Cibulkova only this time it was a more even fight as both players took it the distance but it was Li Na who triumphed again with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 scoreline. Li Na also for me remains a favourite to win the title given her current form she has a good chance of winning as well so we will see how it goes.
So moving onto the men's matches first up we had Andy Murray (and yep I will dedicate a few paragraphs to this one!) who in the 3rd round faced a qualifier, Jiri Veseley from the Czeck Republic, being 6' 6" resembled Del Potro and he had a serve to match. In the match Andy was the clear favourite to win however despite a strong start in the first set taking a 3-0 lead he then went on to surrender his break and before we knew it was a tiebreak and Andy lost it 7-2. In the 2nd set Andy had to come from a break down to level the match and again he did the same in the 3rd where he eventually managed to wear down the talented yet inexperienced Veseley after a tough near three hour battle in 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. This has to be one of the most shocking displays I have ever seen from Andy in all the times I have watched his matches as his serve was horrendously off target and he had to fight so many times from a down position in the match. And in the end the only thing that really got him through was his mental resilience and experience to hang in there.
Which brings me onto Andy's 4th round match which was between Milos Raonic, whom he has had his struggles with in the past as the big serving Canadian lead their head to head 2-1. However Andy seemed to improve on his poor effort in the previous round as he made a confident solid start and broke Raonic to take the first set and he continued his fine form in the second set even though he lost it. But in the 3rd Andy took the ascendancy as he got an early break, but unfortunately he couldn't hold onto it and it was not long before Raonic was able to fashion a break of his own against the increasingly fragile Murray serve and he went on to serve out the match to produce another upset for the British No.1 in 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. While the result was by no means a disgrace, what was so poor about the match was Andy's capitulation on serve in the crucial moments of the final set. And once again it really does highlight the vulnerability of his service games, as he cannot appear to get his first serve percentage high enough (usually around the 50% mark) and his 2nd serve remains the biggest Achilles heel in his game as it hovers around the 70-80 mph mark which is just too slow.
So this match did show a few worrying signs for Andy and yet again he has failed to beat a player ranked below him and he is even yet to beat a player ranked inside the top 20 never mind the top 10 this year. However I guess we still have to take into consideration that Andy will take time to fully recover his form and I do believe he will hopefully at some point later this year get it back. And it also has to be said that Indian Wells is a tournament that hasn't been kind to him over the years as he struggled badly there in the past. But hopefully with the Sony Open in Miami coming Andy will enjoy better luck as he plays well there (usually!) and he uses Miami as his base training camp away from home (or his home from home). And in Miami he will also meet up with Ivan Lendl again so hopefully they can use that time to work on things before he is set to defend his title. Can he???? Hmmm seems doubtful but we shall see.
Right as for other matches, Rafael Nadal after winning his tough match against Radek Stepanek, fell foul to the biggest upset of the tournament as he was knocked out by the in form Alexandr Dologopolov in the 3rd round. The dog (his nickname!) hadn't even taken a set off Rafa before this match in their previous meetings, but here Rafa struggled on serve in the match and there were times were it was a reminder of his painful defeat in the final of Melbourne as the Ukranian knocked out the defending champ in 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Rafa certainly did show signs of a lack confidence again in this match as he appeared to be still haunted by his defeat in the final of the Australian open and he was even leaving the stadium trying to hold back the tears. Rafa will of course need to regroup for Miami where we will see how he favours there as he hasn't played there for two years.
Next up we had Roger Federer, who so far has shown great form in the last few weeks as he won his first title of the year in Dubai and so far he has confidently progressed into the quarter finals. In his 3rd round match Roger faced the tricky Russian, Dimitri Tursinov who he fought past to win their match in 7-6, 7-6. And in the fourth round, Roger overcame another old foe, Tommy Haas, however he managed to dispatch the German with fair ease as he beat him in 6-4, 6-4. This sees Roger looking good for the rest of the tournament and I actually still pick him as a strong favourite to win the title again. Then we have the last of the "big four" Novak Djokovic who has been in pretty good form so far in the desert, although he suffered a mid match dip in his 3rd round match against the qualifier, Alejandro Gonzalez, as he lost the 2nd set, but he regrouped well to seal the win in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. And in the 4th round Nole faced his first real danger opponent in Marin Cilic, who has been in great form of late as he recently also hired Goran Ivanesivic as his coach. Cilic came out the blocks strong and won the first set in 20 minutes, but after that Novak regrouped to level the match and he went on to break Cilic again in the 3rd to seal his place in the quarter finals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.
In other matches on the men's a few more upsets, the biggest being Stan Wawrinka as his perfect start to the season came to an end as he played the South African giant, Kevin Anderson, and the big guy served Stan off the court for the most part. Stan took a set but in the 3rd set he mistimed his shots and his serves and it allowed for Anderson to take a double break to seal the deal to reach the quarter finals with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 win. Grigor Dimitrov, who has in top form lately, also was upset by his close new rival, Ernests Gulbis, as the two of them did battle together, only this time it was Gulbis who sealed the win and reach the 4th round in 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Gulbis then went on to beat Tomas Berdych's conqueror, Roberto Bautista-Agut after a tough three set match in 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. The Frenchman, Julienne Benneateau also put out another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter finals with a 6-3, 7-6 score. And lastly John Isner, a former finalist here two years ago, managed to edge Fernando Verdasco in a tight encounter with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
So this sets up and the men's quarter finals and also the ladies quarters and semis and I will be back with more action soon as we get to real business end of the tournament in the desert.
Until the next one bye for now.
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