Djokovic Stays Perfect, Federer, Roddick Win; Nadal, Del Potro Today at Indian Wells

by Sean Randall | March 14th, 2011, 11:32 am
  • 75 Comments

Week two of the Tennis Masters Indian Wells gets underway today with another big schedule. Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Juan Martin Del Potro and Fernando Verdasco are the top men, while the women are led by blond beauty queens Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova.

Two-time champion Nadal is on late in the afternoon against qualifier Ryan Sweeting, he of the good serve and bad forehand. While Nadal should have an easy day, his main top half rivals figure to be tested.

Soderling will be likely be pushed by Phil Kohlschreiber. Verdasco meets Sam Queerey in a pretty even match of two players desperate for a win. And in the match of the day Del Potro faces Alexandr Dolgopolov.


Another good one involves Ivo Karlovic and Gilles Simon. Roger Federer is also in doubles action – Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are won their second round doubles yesterday.

Speaking of Federer, the three-time champ took out Igor Andreev 7-5, 7-6(4). It was wasn’t easy but Federer said he was pleased with the result.

“I thought it was another tough match against him,” said Federer who improves to 4-0 career vs. the Russian. “Even though I felt always kind of in control in the first set, even though I was down 5-4, I felt I was in the match quickly against him, which maybe in the past wasn’t always the case because he’s got a lot of spin, and, you know, he’s got a lot of pace. So I was able to handle that better today, I thought.”

The big storyline on Sunday was the continued rise of the young stars. Canadian Milos Raonic saved a ton of break points to score another straight-set win over Mardy Fish beating the American 7-5, 6-4.

“I’m hungry for the wins,” said Raonic who beat Fish in Memphis. “I want to win as much as possible. I want to reach new limits. I want to keep improving. By winning today, especially here with a day in between, it’s a good thing. I have a chance to recover fully and sort of treat and now come back in two days sort of hoping to play better, hoping to serve better, and hoping to feel better.”

Roanic now meets 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison in what could be a future preview of a Grand Slam final. Harrison ousted Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-6.

“I’m obviously extremely excited right now,” Harrison said. “I felt like I did a couple things very well today; couple things I could have done better. But all in all, I played well in the big points. He had plenty of chances. There in the second set he could have knocked me out and got into a third, but I was able to hang tough and put myself in a position to where in the tiebreaker he missed a pretty simple forehand after we had a really long point, and that was all the mini break I needed. I was able to hold it out from there.”

Harrison and Raonic has never met on the pro tour, but Harrison did have the edge in juniors 2-1.

“He’s a fighter, he’s feeling good, he’s gonna go for his shots, he’s gonna play, and he’s gonna do a lot of things,” Raonic said of Harrison. “I haven’t had too much time to think about it.”

Novak Djokovic was also an easy winner last night breezing past Andrey Golubev 6-0, 6-4.

“It was great start of the tournament,” said Djokovic who is 13-0 on the season with 15 straight wins. “With those first matches you don’t know what to expect… I really tested myself today, because I had Golubev, who is coming up from big Davis Cup wins, and he’s a very good player. He showed that in the second set. He started hitting the ball from the baseline really hard. But I was in the control most of the match. I am really happy with the way I was playing. I want to keep on moving.”

Andy Roddick, Stan Wawrinka, John Isner and Tomas Berdych were other winners on Sunday.

In the women’s third round play, Dominika Cilbulkova upset Vera Zvonareva 4-6, 7-6(4), 64. Top seed Kim Clijsters avoided the upset turning away Sara Errani in three sets, and Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic booked a fourth round meeting after each won straight set matches.

Today Wozniacki meets Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Sharapova will battle birthday girl (24) Aravane Rezai and Sam Stosur tests Dinara Safina who said that she contemplated retiring from the tour last month.

Matches begin at 2pm ET on the Tennis Channel.

MONDAY INDIAN WELLS SCHEDULE

STADIUM 1 start 11:00 am
[1] C Wozniacki (DEN) vs [28] M Martinez Sanchez (ESP) – WTA
[4] R Soderling (SWE) vs [32] P Kohlschreiber (GER) – ATP

Not Before 2:30 PM
[20] A Rezai (FRA) vs [16] M Sharapova (RUS) – WTA
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [Q] R Sweeting (USA) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
[4] S Stosur (AUS) vs D Safina (RUS) – WTA

Not Before 8:30 PM
[9] F Verdasco (ESP) vs [21] S Querrey (USA) – ATP

STADIUM 2 start 11:00 am
[25] T Robredo (ESP) vs [Q] D Young (USA) – ATP
[11] N Almagro (ESP) vs [23] A Montanes (ESP) – ATP
[20] A Dolgopolov (UKR) vs J Del Potro (ARG) – ATP

Not Before 4:30 PM
[WC] C Mchale (USA) vs [18] N Petrova (RUS) – WTA
J Benneteau (FRA) / R Gasquet (FRA) vs R Federer (SUI) / S Wawrinka (SUI) – ATP

STADIUM 3 start 11:00 am
[9] A Radwanska (POL) vs [24] M Kirilenko (RUS) – WTA
U Radwanska (POL) vs [8] V Azarenka (BLR) – WTA
[Q] S Devvarman (IND) vs X Malisse (BEL) – ATP
[28] G Simon (FRA) vs I Karlovic (CRO) – ATP
[Q] L Hradecka (CZE) vs S Peng (CHN) – WTA


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75 Comments for Djokovic Stays Perfect, Federer, Roddick Win; Nadal, Del Potro Today at Indian Wells

Tennis Vagabond Says:

Where’s the let down from Nole? Holy cow!
Hmmm… seems I remember Fed having a close call against Andreev once before. Now what did that portend?
Hope I can watch some of the Delpo vs The Dog match, should be awesome. Great to see the stars doing well in doubles too.


NELTA Says:

I wonder what the record is for most consecutive wins to start a season. In 2006 Fed had 16 wins. He was 28-1 after Miami.

Djokovic has 13 straight wins and counting.


The fighter Says:

go Rafa go!!!


stu Says:

NELTA, if you count Davis cup, it’s 15…


margot Says:

Just watched Robredo beat Young, rather easily. Just makes Andy’s loss even more inexplicable…Oh Andy, Andy, Andy :( :( :(


dari Says:

Yes, I failed to send condolences to Murray fans. I like the guy, too, and fortunately I missed the match against d. Young. I was hoping d young just was suddenly playing super, but I guess margot, not really the case if he’s getting bageled by Robredo? Tough nuts for Murray, I cant pretend to know how to fix him!


dari Says:

Soda and kohls- kohlschreiber had a slow start, but has broken back to serve to make it even.
I often pick kohls for upsets against like 5-20 ranked players, but this time I didnt. If he wins its good if he loses its good for my bracket. Win-win, can just sit back and enjoy the tennis.


Lulu Iberica Says:

Margot, I did not see either of Donald Young’s matches, but people on another forum said he was “ripping” forehands against Murray. It seems it was a combo of Andy M playing badly and DY playing much better than usual.


dari Says:

Kohlschreiber does it in straights! Wish I woulda picked him. Now, this makes things interesting should delpo get past dolgo later.
Nico needs to break back against monatanes now!


Kimmi Says:

Hello tennis junkies..woot, how clever I was to pick montanes against almagro. clever me :)at least i get some needed points there.

Soda pop has a bad history with kohls, it was only this year in Rotterdam he manage to beat him for the first time. squeezing the win on a third set tie break.

H2H is 4-1 favoring kohls now. So i am not really surprised.


stu Says:

I thought Almagro and Soda were white hot! Indian burial ground is right!


dari Says:

Haha, kimmi, how clever you are! Did you pick kohls, too?!
delpo up a break ( or two)? Against dolgo. Not watching at the moment and will keep it that way since he is winning!


Kimmi Says:

noooo, dolgo breaks back! some crazy shots from dolgo to break.

delpo lost the belief now..wake up!

dari – unfortunately i was not clever enough to pick kohls :(


Kimberly Says:

wow, thanks soderling. He is one of my least favorite players due to RG 09 but picked him to semis and have been sitting here smugly thinking i would pick up points there since murray out. Not so!!!!

Another reason to dislike him!

At least Sharapova seems to be coming through on a bright note!


Kimmi Says:

ah kimberly, you still think about that rg 09, nadal beat him last year for his revenge. give poor soda some luv, he was only trying to win a tennis match!


Kimmi Says:

dolgo realised the slice works well against delpo. tie break!


dari Says:

TV in dolgo v delpo match. Vamos, delpo!


Kimmi Says:

shank on tie break..not good dolgo


dari Says:

If it means anything kimmi/kimberly, I still think about Wimbledon 08!


Kimmi Says:

big scream frm delpo to win that tie break. tough match it was at the end of the set…too many eu frm dolgo.

my guy today is delpo..go delpo!


Kimmi Says:

dari – wimbledon 08? oh dear! poor rafa was only trying to win a tennis match :)

Go delpo!


Kimmi Says:

you know, its not only federer who has been shanking. andreev yesterday, dolgo today but looks like federer shanks are always magnified..poor fed!


scineram Says:

Philipp!

From now on this will be the definition of “Nadal’s joke draw”.


dari Says:

Did you see that match, kimmi?! Hey, I’m good with Rafa now, but that was a hell of a day back then. And no matter how great of a player Rafa is, even if I can enjoy his game and his personality, can only like him up to 95% because of that day. Really I wouldn’t have it any other way!


dari Says:

I know dolgo is giving some away, but I don’t care I want delpo to win. That section is so open with Murray and soda gone…


Lulu Iberica Says:

Scineram, even as a Nadal fan I have to agree with you! Of course Del Po could cause some trouble! Also, the way upsets are going this tournament, even Sweeting could cause trouble!


Kimmi Says:

You are right about top section dari, delpo could only stir thing up a little bit. Go delpo!


Kimmi Says:

I watched that match dari but a lot has happened since. there are so many of these matches that made me cringe…but what can i do, just hoping for some major revenge.


Kimmi Says:

dolgo is gone now!


Kimmi Says:

Good thing he has insurance brake! 2 consecutive DF to be broken..


Kimmi Says:

break


Kimmi Says:

so many errors..his coach should talk to him about that! no need to go for broke all the time dolgo..be patient, wait for chances.

YAY! go delpo. who is he playing next? let me check!


dari Says:

Way to go, delpo! Kohls up next. Tough match, but totally win-able!


Kimmi Says:

delpo play kohls next. winnable! go delpo!


Kimmi Says:

mallise said to one of the spectators “hey cowboy can you shut your face for a second?” ha-ha he is not a very happy camper right now!


thark Says:

again philipp???

have you no mercy in your heart?…


Kimmi Says:

a begal on saturday and a bread stick today! rafa loves baking!


dari Says:

Ouch- df on mp for sweeting :(
Didn’t play horrible, Rafa too good. No real tests for Rafa, like ever!


Kimberly Says:

I think Christina Mchale looks like a better player than oudin not that that is really saying much.

Dare I hope for sharapova again. I didn’t see the match biut the scoreline looked convincing,


Kimmi Says:

devvarman beat mallise! wow! who picked him to get to the 4th round?

This IW is showing us some new talent…


jane Says:

I kind of wish Nole/Viktor would’ve lost. Oh well. He has Gulbis at 11:00 am tomorrow.

Hoping for Simon / Hotsauce to win tonight.


dari Says:

Why is that, Jane? More energy for singles?
Kinda wish I could see some Stan and roger Action on tennis channel. Oh! Maybe on ESPN3…


Kimmi Says:

i want stan/roger to win doubles. more practice for the singles.

These guys are so fit, i don’t think a doubles match will affect them jane.


Kimmi Says:

dari – i am hoping they stream it. i think it will be next after WTA match on stadium 2


Kimberly Says:

I want Marc and rafa to win at doubles.


Kimmi Says:

dr.ivo going for broke. wow! he breaks!


dari Says:

I’m kinda just enjoying the tennis, not cheering to hard for anyone except my bracket. delpo I guess, over everybody. Always want roger to win, but the priority is at slams. But, uh, winning doubles with a bud is always fun!


Kimmi Says:

OMG! dr ivo broke simon twice to take the 1st set..haha! could it be he worked so hard during his time off? he is a different player now!


jane Says:

Yeah, dari. just want Nole to focus on singles. But whatever. Not a biggie. Sometimes the doubles does help with the singles. Not sure what to expect; in the past, Nole has always had a letdown, so I keep waiting for that, assuming it’ll happen soon but who knows!?

Wanted to see Simon win this match; I really like him. I think he is a fun player to watch. With Hotsauce and Sam it matters less to me; both can be great to watch when they are on form.

I had Delpo going down to Soda in the QFs but I think he may make the semis at this rate. Providing it’s Rafa there, I’d be surprised if Delpo beat him. Depends how close to his beat he is. Ditto for Rafa. I haven’t “seen” either play here yet. So far Delpo has had the tougher matches/draw.


Kimmi Says:

no stream for federer/stan ;(


Kimmi Says:

simon wont win this match, dr.ivo is on fire. maybe he is going to win his first master1000 title?*ok, not so fast kimmi* dr ivo is painting lines with the forehand *gulp*


dari Says:

i blame simon’s outfit for the problem.


dari Says:

Well way to go, safina up a break.


Kimmi Says:

yap, simon outfit is awful!


dari Says:

Well we will just hope that since there is no stream of swiss/French doubles, the swiss win their match and give us anoyher chance to watch the next day!


Kimmi Says:

poor simon, he does not know what to do with that serve from dr.ivo!

three match points

game set match dr.ivo

Good luck to whoever playing dr.ivo next


NELTA Says:

Dr Ivo was coming over his backhand a few times against Ferrer which is something new. He ripped a few down the line backhand winners. Normally he hits the woodchopper slice 95% of the time. The only time he used to come over the backhand was on a passing shot attempt, kind of the way Stefi Graff was. She pretty much hit all slices unless she had to hit a passing shot. This must be something Dr Ivo has been working on. If he can rip a few backhands it could make him a very dangerous player.


dari Says:

Wow, nice 2nd serve ace for safina. Who has the scoop on stosur? Not so hot this year, right? But dinara keeping her head.


Kimmi Says:

Today he was running around his backhand a lot, hitting big FH, painting lines at times. He also seem to play long rallies well. normally dr.ivo could not hit more that 3 or 4 shots. he did today.

I agree with you about the BH drive, he hit few today too. simon serve is not that big, so dr ivo took adv, hitting few big FH return winners.

I did not watch watch ferrer match but just looking at todays match i think he must have won that match rather than ferrer losing it.

happy to see players evolving. if dr. ivo improves his overall game he will be tough to beat with that serve.


dari Says:

Is there no ad in doubles these days?


dari Says:

Hopp Suisse! Doubles TB!


dari Says:

Stosur breaks safina after a marathon service game with minimum 3 df’s.
Meanwhile swiss survive another day!


Kimberly Says:

Go dinara! I think the winner ofnthisnmatch plays my girl!


Kimberly Says:

Love to see safina pumped like this.


Kimberly Says:

Go dinar a! Break her and close it out!


dari Says:

Happy for Safina! A topsy turvy match, but a win .like that is good for the test of nerves.
It will be a screamer between her and Maria!


sar Says:

Nice one for Safina.


margot Says:

Some brilliant comments today :) Kimmi “he’s only trying to win a tennis match”……
and dAri now blaming poor fashion sense for losses :) love it!
thanx Lula and dAri for condolences.


M Says:

“and dAri now blaming poor fashion sense for losses”

Well … that was a terrible outfit.
How could such a pretty man wear something so ugly? I’ve been waiting for it to come to a bad end since the Sydney tournament. LOL.

Allez Roger et Wawa! You two scared me a little with that third set, even if we had no broadcast.

Rafa/Marc, defending champions, also into the next round!

Still scowling at whoever set this up so they’d meet in the semi, and not the final.
*scowling*


Mg Mg Says:

Happy for Safina. I hope she wins her next match against Maria.


Tennis Vagabond Says:

Wow, Rog has a tough row to hoe to make the finals from here out. I hope we get a Rafa/DelPo semi on the other side. And we are inching closer to some one-of-a-kind doubles matchups with all the singles stars advancing.


dari Says:

Oh, didn’t know the screaming Russians match was tonight! Don’t know who to cheer, safina and Maria both really need it.


The fighter Says:

well, i did nt knw wer to post this bt a nice read for Rafa fans….

The 24-year-old Spaniard is clearly the best player on the planet, but even more remarkable than his relentless game is the fact that success hasn’t gone to his head. He’s actually . . . nice. To everybody.

Rafael Nadal made his way into the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open on Monday with an impressive victory over a qualifier. He looked sharp, healthy and ready as always to make runs at the major titles.

However, you don’t always see the best of Nadal on the tennis court. Sometimes, that happens in the cafeteria line.

The organizers of this long-running event did an interesting thing when they built their 16,100-seat stadium, called it the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and opened it for play in 2000. They set aside a dining area not just for the players, but also the media. Yes, the greats would dine with the great unwashed. Arguments and fistfights were predicted. None have occurred.

And so it came to pass on Saturday afternoon that a reporter found himself in the checkout line directly in front of the No. 1 men’s tennis player in the world.

The lines were long and both reporter and Nadal had been waiting for several minutes to get to one of the cash registers. As the checkout woman rang up the reporter’s food, she reached for a little sign that read “Line Closed” and put it down right in front of Nadal. It was her break time. She didn’t care if the queen of England was waiting.

It was one of those “don’t you know who I am?” moments. Many of the athletic stars of our time would have made that clear. To many of them, rules are for other people.

Not Nadal.

He broke into a big grin, tapped the reporter on the back and congratulated him on being the lucky one. Then he started to look for which of the remaining long lines he would try next. The reporter, perhaps subconsciously trying to bag an exclusive interview sometime down the line, told the checkout lady, “No, no. He’s important. Let one more go through.”

And so she did, after rolling her eyes like somebody knowing she was dealing daily with a roomful of huge egos. Nadal, who never stopped smiling, patted the reporter on the back and said something in his delightful Spanglish that meant thanks.

It was no big deal. Yet it was.

In sports, there are superstars who are jerks and there are those who become even bigger superstars because they understand they can’t afford to be jerks. And then are those who don’t even have to work at it, who were raised correctly and remain that way despite the adulation and trophy collecting.

Nadal is such an athlete.

He refuses to accept that his excellence at hitting a fuzzy yellow ball gives him a pass on decency and good manners.

He ended the first set in his 6-3, 6-1 victory Monday over Ryan Sweeting with an ace down the middle and made sure to gesture to the linesman at the other end that he was sorry he hit him with the ball. In his interview session afterward, when the moderator cut off a questioner so that the interview could change to questions in Spanish, it was Nadal, not the moderator, who gestured and apologized to the reporter who had been cut off.

He won’t be 25 until June 3, and he has already won nine major titles, including the remarkable achievement of winning at least one of each. And yet, if you ask him about aiming at Roger Federer’s record of 16 Grand Slams, or even hint that he is in the same tennis stratosphere as Federer, he will quickly tell you that “Roger is better. Sixteen Slams is too much.”

By its very nature, pro tennis is a self-centered, ego-driven pursuit. If you don’t think you are good, you won’t be. If things go wrong, find a reason other than your own failings.

That’s how it went earlier in the day, when fourth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden was upset by Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. Afterward, Soderling said that an injury he had was too problematic and he should have been smart enough to not even try to play.

That’s fair, probably accurate. But in the same situation, Nadal would have limped into the interview room, praised the other player, assured everybody that his limp had nothing to do with the result, and then had a cast put on out of the sight of everybody.

Monday was a day when No. 1 woman’s player Caroline Wozniacki sailed on easily, as did Maria Sharapova. It was also a day when the run of young U.S. player Donald Young came to an abrupt halt at the hands of veteran Tommy Robredo, and Juan Martin Del Potro showed more of the pre-injury form that took him to the 2009 U.S. Open title.

It was also a day when Federer and his gold-medal doubles partner, Stanislas Wawrinka, packed an outside court as day drifted into night.

But Nadal, with his sharp-angled ground strokes and unmatched power from every spot on the court, was the main attraction. The on-court announcer, knowing great tennis when he sees it, said so and praised Nadal afterward. Nadal responded, “I am trying to play my best all the time, but sometimes it is good and sometimes it is not so good.”

Then he ducked his head shyly, like somebody embarrassed to keep talking about himself.


Tennis Vagabond Says:

Haha, fighter! Good article. I was with you until the part about Nadal hiding his injuries. That beggars belief a bit. The rest was very nice.


dAri Says:

cute story!

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