Djokovic and Isner Advance While Roddick and Fish Lose at Indian Wells
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic defeated South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. And while the top-ranked Serbian advanced, it was a day of mixed results for the American men, as number eight-ranked Mardy Fish and 31st-ranked Andy Roddick were eliminated, while 11th-ranked John Isner advanced.
Anderson, the 29th seed who won last week’s Delray Beach International Tennis Championships for his second ever career ATP title, managed one break in the first set. Five games went to deuce, including five deuces before Djokovic held to lead 3-2 in the first. Djokovic beat Anderson in straight sets for the fourth straight time.
“He’s very aggressive on the return games,” Djokovic said. “He has a great serve, as you can imagine for his height, so I had to return well, I had to just be patient, and wait for my chances. I haven’t served well in the opening set, but then it all came down to his service games. I served well and put a lot of pressure on him and returned really, really good.”
Djokovic will next play Pablo Andujar, who reached the round of 16 at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the first time with victory over fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos, 7-6(5), 6-4, in one hour and 55 min.
The top-ranked American at number eight, Fish was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by qualifier Matthew Ebden of Australia, with Fish getting penalized for hindrance. Roddick lost to the seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Roddick had never before dropped a set against Berdych when playing in the U.S. Roddick has been bothered by a right hamstring and right ankle injuries this season.
“I said three or four weeks ago I was going to try not to address it on a daily basis," said Roddick after the loss. "If you play, you’re fine. I played, I competed, and he beat me.”
Isner was a 7-5, 7-5 winner over the 22nd-seeded Juan Monaco from Argentina. Isner advances to face the qualifier Ebden in the next round.
Indian Wells Mens Results (Monday, March 12, 2012)
â–ºRyan Harrison (U.S.) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-4, 7-5
â–ºTomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Andy Roddick (U.S.) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
â–ºNicolas Almagro (Spain) beat Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2)
â–ºMatthew Ebden (Australia) beat Mardy Fish (U.S.) 6-3, 6-4
â–ºNovak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 6-2, 6-3
â–ºPablo Andujar (Spain) beat Albert Ramos (Spain) 7-6(5), 6-4
â–ºGilles Simon (France) beat Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-4
â–ºJohn Isner (U.S.) beat Juan Monaco (Argentina) 7-5, 7-5
