Right OK so its time for part 3 of my posts on the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells city in California and we are now getting to the business end of the tournament as I will cover the men's and ladies quarter and semi final matches.
So to start with the lasses and the last remaining quarter final in the ladies, which I didn't cover in the last post was between Flavia Pennetta and the American Sloane Stephens. And it was a real tight encounter as the match went the distance in the desert but it was experience that got Pennetta through in the end as she continued her fine form with a tough 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win, which saw her take her place in the semis. And now moving onto the semis, first up we had Li Na who faced off against Flavia Pennetta and it was another tight match, but despite Li being the top seed (with Serena Williams not playing in the tournament as Li Na is now No.2) Pennetta pulled off another stunning upset as she fought her way to victory to reach the biggest singles final of her career with a 7-6, 6-3 win. This is a great result for Pennetta who has had a real killer run this week having taken some big names out such as Sam Stosur, Sloane Stephens and now Li Na. But this is the biggest final of her career so it remains to be seen if she will have the nerve to close out the win in the big finale and it all hinges on the winner of the next match.
And this match was between Agnieszka Radwanska and the in form Romanian player, Simona Halep who capped the biggest title of her career earlier this year in Doha and the odds were in Halep's favour given that she had won their last two meetings. However Radwanska had other ideas as she came out playing very aggressive tennis and she outwitted her opponent in the first set as she broker to take the first set. In the 2nd set it was Halep's turn as she broke Radwanska to move ahead as the match looked to get to a decider but Aga once again broke back and fashioned a break of her own as she sealed her place in her first Indian Wells final with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
So this sets up the ladies final between Radwanska and Pennetta and looking at their head to head, Radwanska looks to be the favourite as she leads it 4-2. However head to heads can be decieving so we will just have to wait and see how it goes, but my money is on Radwanska as she has had more experience in bigger finals than Pennetta has. And even though their last encounters have always been won in straight sets I do think this could still be a tight one so I will go with Radwanska in three sets, but then I've been wrong before and Pennetta will definitely go in as the underdog so she will also have her chance. Whatever way it goes it promises to be quite an entertaining final given their contrast in styles as players.
So now we go onto the men's and I will start with the quarter finals and the first one was between Alexandr Dolgopolov who has had a real good run so far and he was up against the big serving Milos Raonic, who knocked out Andy Murray in the previous round. But it was the Dog who made the better start as he played some terrific free flowing tennis to flummox the big Canadian as he got a perfect read on the big guy's serves and broke him to go ahead in the first set. In the 2nd Raonic got a break but it wasn't long before Dolgopolov wrestled it back and he went on to break Raonic and won the match in straight sets to reach his first ever 1000 Masters series semi final in 6-3, 6-4. Roger Federer next up continued his impressive form as he took on the giant Kevin Anderson, who knocked out Stan Wawrinka and denied the crowd an all Swiss quarter final. But Roger proved to be more than good enough to defeat the big South African and after a tight first set, he dismissed Anderson in the 2nd as he won the match convincingly in 7-5, 6-1.
Next we had John Isner, the American no.1 and the second tallest player on the men's tour who took on the tempermental but talented, Ernests Gulbis. But big John was able to rely on his big powerful serve once again as he battled past Gulbis in two tight sets as he won them on two tiebreaks, which saw him reach his second Indian Wells semi final with a 7-6, 7-6 score. And the last quarter final was between Novak Djokovic, the former champion and Julien Benneteau the Frenchman, who has enjoyed a good run in the desert this week. But the Frenchman had no answer for Nole his time as the Serb dismissed with little effort as Novak defeated Benneteau in just over an hour with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Which brings me onto the semi finals, and the first was between Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov. This was an intruiging match up as they had only played once before and Roger won in on a retiral four years ago in Basel, his home town. And despite a fairly tight start from both men, the match soon unravlled for the Dog who soon found his erratic game had now answer for Roger's might as he got broken in the first set. And in the 2nd, Dolgopolov's errors increased dramatically as his erratic serve got worse and first serve percentage dropped way down to 35%! (all of a sudden Andy Murray's doesn't look too bad!). And in the end Roger outclassed the Dog as he put in a sublime serving performance in the 3rd and he sealed the win in 6-3, 6-1 to reach another final in the desert with a chance to lift his fifth title there.
And the last match of the day was between Novak Djokovic and John Isner, which proved to be a much tougher and tighter affair. Nole made a good start, but he ended up getting himself into hot water at 4-5, as he went three break points down to hand set points to the big Yank, but he saved them all and held on. Nole soon then managed to get a break on Isner's serve and he closed out the first set and in the 2nd set he managed to get another break, which saw him serve for the match at 5-4. However Nole played a poor service game and Isner broke back to go 5-5, but Isner handed the initiative to Novak once more, only for him to hand it straight back and the match headed into a tiebreak, which Isner won comfortably to level the match. And despite the danger of another upset looming as Isner beat Djokovic two years ago at the same stage in Indian Wells, Nole this time managed to avoid the danger and he went on to wear down the big guy and broke twice to secure his place in the final with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 victory.
So this sets up another potentially exciting final in the desert between two of the world's all time greats in Roger and Nole and it promises to be a cracker. But who will win????? Well for me I have to go with Federer as he has been in great form all week and he looks like he is getting back to his best and he hasn't dropped a set all week. Roger will also have taken much confidence from defeating Novak in the semi finals in Dubai two weeks ago and he has already beaten four top 10 players this year and Nole has yet to beat even one! Novak on the other hand certainly has a chance to win but he will have to play better than he has done all week and certainly better than he did against Isner as he cannot afford to hand service breaks to Roger, who will take them and run. So I think it will be a tight one and it promises to be a great match but I think Roger will win in three sets to claim his fifth Indian Wells title, but we will soon find out however it goes.
Right so that's it for now and I will be back with the results of the finals of the mens and ladies.
Until the next one see you later.
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