Big Four Coast Into Indian Wells Quarterfinals

March 19, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Federer_Crop_01
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray booked four of the eight quarterfinal spots at the BNP Paribas Open, all winning in straight sets on Wednesday in Indian Wells, Calif.

Three-time champion Rafael Nadal rolled past France’s Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-4 in less than 80 minutes. Nadal led 5-2 in the final set before Simon broke and held serve to creep within 4-5, but the Spaniard closed things out on his next serve to move into the final eight.

“Today, I think I played a solid match against a tough opponent like Simon that is not easily to play tactically,” said Nadal. “Tactically, I think I played a very positive match. In general, I played solid.”

Nadal notched five break points to move past Simon. In the quarterfinals, the world number three will take on Canadian Milos Raonic. The sixth-seeded Raonic disposed of 17th seed Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-2.

“I’m getting better each match,” said Raonic. “I’ve just got to figure out my serve. I’m returning, getting myself in a lot of points, returning deep, and giving myself a lot of looks. As the match is going on, I’m getting better. So that’s a good sign.”

Raonic, who is known for his big serve, was very solid on the return. He won 47 percent of his return points and won three break points.

Roger Federer captured his 50th win at the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over American Jack Sock. Federer didn’t allow the 22-year-old a single break point chance to roll in a little over an hour.

“I played a very clean match,” said Federer. “I think I served great. I was also actually returning very well. That gave me the opportunity to stay in the match.”

He will have a tougher task as he goes for his 51st win. Federer will take on the ninth-seeded Tomas Berdych, who beat fellow Czech Lukas Rosol 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

“We have played on many occasions over many years,” said Federer. “I don’t know when we played the very first time but I have seen his game evolve, seen how he established himself in the top 10.”

Novak Djokovic extended John Isner’s losing streak against top 10 players to 11, defeating the American 6-4, 7-6(5) to move into the quarterfinals. Against the dominant serve, Djokovic was able to break Isner one time to move on.

“Throughout the match it was very difficult to break him, but I played a great game at three-all in the first set and that gave me the first set,” said Djokovic. “And after that it was anybody’s game really. The second set went over 60 minutes. We were both very tight towards the end, and just very fortunate to go through it.”

The world number one Serb draws a matchup with Australian Bernard Tomic, who beat his compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Andy Murray bested 26-year-old Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-3 in one of the early matches of the day to reach the fifth quarterfinal of his career in Indian Wells.

“I thought I played well,” said Murray. “It was a tricky match. He’s played well this year. He’s had a few good tournaments. He’s a tough guy to play against. Very unorthodox style. He has a very very good backhand cross court. He hits it very low over the net, very flat. He can rush you, take your time away.”

Murray sets up a matchup with 12th seed Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniard beat Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-6(2) to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals for the first time in his career.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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