Unseeded American players surged on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open in
Indian Wells, with eight moving into the second round, led by young U.S. hopes
John Isner and
Sam Querrey.
The wildcard Isner blew past diminutive Belgian
Christophe Rochus 6-1, 6-4, while Querrey topped a decidedly tougher opponent in
Guillermo Canas 7-6(2), 6-2.
Canas was a former winner over then-No. 1-ranked
Roger Federer in Indian Wells.
Other American winners moving into the second round were qualifier Mike Russell who defeated Spaniard
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez; qualifier
Robert Kendrick who defeated fellow qualifier
Bjorn Phau of Germany; wildcard Taylor Dent who stopped Argentina's
Diego Junqueira; wildcard
Ryan Sweeting who outlast fellow American wildcard
Wayne Odesnik 7-6 in the third; qualifier
Todd Widom who defeated Spain's
Ivan Navarro; and
Bobby Reynolds who came from a set down to defeat Italy's
Fabio Fognini.
Highlights of Saturday play at Indian Wells includes (2) Roger Federer vs.
Marc Gicquel, (13)
James Blake vs.
Jarkko Nieminen,and unseeded former No. 1
Lleyton Hewitt vs. (17)
Fernando Gonzalez.
