Murray and Djokovic Headed to Indian Wells Round of 16

Andy Murray advanced to the Round of 16 at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., defeating Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2. With the win, Murray exacted revenge on Lu for a loss at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Murray advances to play Carlos Berlocq, who defeated the number 16-seed Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-2.

"He started off well," said Murray. "I didn’t serve particularly well to get myself into those situations, and then I served well to get myself out of some tough situations. He can kind of leave you flat-footed sometimes, and he certainly did that a lot in the first set."

Juan Martin del Potro also advanced on Tuesday as well, with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Bjorn Phau. del Potro improved to a 13-3 season record to date in 2013, highlighted by his triumph at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam. del Potro’s best result in Indian Wells came in 2011, when he reached the semifinals and fell to Rafael Nadal. Up next for del Potro is the 34-year-old Tommy Haas, who saved a match point to edge 11th-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(2). Haas is coming off a semifinal showing in Delray Beach and also finished as a runner-up to Milos Raonic in San Jose last month.

World number one Novak Djokovic finished strongly to get past Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(4), 6-1 and advance to the Round of 16 where he will face American Sam Querrey. Djokovic trailed 5-2 in the first set, but four double faults from Dimitrov in the ninth game helped him level at 5-5. He then closed out the opener in a tie-break and broke serve twice in the second set to clinch the victory. Djokovic is riding a 15-0 streak in 2013 and is seeking his third title of the season after victories at the Australian Open and the Dubai Championship. Djokovic is seeking his third Indian Wells title, winning the event in triumphs in 2008 and again in 2011. Querrey’s path to the Round of 16 was paved after he defeated Australian Marinko Matosevic 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 7-5 in a near three-hour affair. 

Querrey was the final American left in contention on the men’s side of the draw as fellow countryman Mardy Fish fell to France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(4), 7-6(0). Fish had his chances to take the match to three sets, letting slip a 4-0 lead in the second set and being broken to love when serving for the set at 5-4. Tsonga dominated the ensuing tie-break to prevail in two hours and nine minutes. Tsonga goes on to face Canadian Milos Raonic, who rallied from a set down to defeat 12th-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.