Federer and Nadal Move Into Quarterfinals at Indian Wells
World number two-ranked Rafael Nadal has advanced to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Calif. with a 6-1, 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers. Nadal’s win marks his seventh consecutive trip to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
Nadal’s quarterfinals opponent will be the 21st-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 winner over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in two hours and 20 min. Nadal has defeated Dolgopolov in their two previous meetings, most recently at last year’s Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
In upsetting fashion, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan defeated the fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, 6-4, 6-3. Istomin too advances to the quarterfinals where he will face ninth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, a 6-2, 7-6(6) winner over the 19th-ranked Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
“Verdasco is a really difficult opponent, especially in the beginning of the big tournaments,” Del Potro said. “He’s very, very tough, very dangerous, and I think I made a good match. I got lucky in the second set when I save five set points, and then in the tie-break he made the double fault to give me the first match point.”
Both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Thomaz Bellucci advanced as well, with Tsonga a 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2 winner over Czech Radek Stepanek, and Bellucci a winner over Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko who withdrew due to illness, and will next face Switzerland’s Roger Federer, who advanced with a 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 comeback win over the 21-year-old Canadian, Milos Raonic. Raonic gained the upper hand against Federer, going up a mini-break 5-3 and holding his serve to clinch the tie-break, but Federer came back strong in the second set. Federer broke in the opening game and a second time to go up 4-1.
