Third round action in the men’s draw at the first Tennis Masters event of the season, the Pacific Life Open at Indian Well, concludes today with a six Top16 in action.
In action Tuesday are top seeded Roger Federer, No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko, No. 7 David Nalbandian, No. 11 Andy Murray, No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny and No. 15 Tommy Robredo.
The World No. 1 Federer takes an 18-match winning streak against Frenchmen into the
third round against Mahut. Federer’s last loss to a French player was against Richard Gasquet on Apr. 15, 2005 in the quarterfinals at ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo. Prior to that, his last loss to a Frenchman was to Fabrice Santoro in the quarterfinals at ATP Masters Series Madrid on Oct. 18, 2002. Since 2003, Federer is 32-1 against Frenchmen.
Murray meets No. 20 Ivo Karlovic for the second time in his career. In their first meeting in the championship of the SAP Open in San Jose on Feb. 18, 2007, Murray escaped with a third set tiebreak victory. In that match, Karlovic fired 26 aces and was broken twice while Murray saved four of five break points. Murray was ranked No. 13 and Karlovic No. 103 at the time
No. 9 James Blake advanced to the fourth round on Monday and he is one of two Americans remaining in the singles draw. Countryman and close friend Mardy Fish is hoping to join Blake in the Round of 16 when he takes on Davydenko on Tuesday. Fish, who defeated No. 31 Igor Andreev, the Russian No. 3 on Sunday, is looking to break an eight-match losing streak against Top 10 opponents since his last win over No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic in the first round of last year’s Australian Open.
The top seeds continued to play well Monday, with Rafael Nadal (d. Donald Young) and No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic (d. Phil Kohlscreiber) coasting to wins. Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Guillermo Canas also advanced, while No. 5 seed David Ferrer ws upset by Hyung-Taik Lee.
The marquee match-up on Wednesday will be a much anticipated showdown between Nadal and Tsonga in a rematch of the Frenchman’s stirring win over Rafa at the Australian Open.
In the women’s draw, the Top 6 seeds - all of whom rank in the world’s Top 10 - are all still alive at Indian Wells, and in today’s fourth round matches will take on challengers who have all had wins over Top 10 players previously in their careers.
The favorites in the other two matches - No.10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and No.12 seed Vera Zvonareva - face Ashley Harkleroad and Casey Dellacqua, respectively; Harkleroad and Dellacqua, the lowest-ranked players remaining in the draw, have both beaten some of the highest seeds to get here, the American ousting No.8 seed Dinara Safina in the third round and the Australian taking out No.7 seed Nicole Vaidisova in the second round Three streaks that are still going as of the end of play on Monday are Maria Sharapova’s 16-match win streak, Lindsay Davenport’s seven-match win streak and Daniela Hantuchova’s eight-match win streak at Indian Wells.
Top seed Ana Ivanovic and fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic were both winners on Monday.
In the U.S., Fox Sports Net will air coverage this afternoon, check your local listings. Live streaming from four courts is available online by clicking the banner below:
