Tomic Withdraws Sending Djokovic Into Indian Wells SF Against Murray; Federer, Nadal One Win Away

Bernard Tomic withdrew ahead of his first career Masters quarterfinal today at Indian Wells due to multiple ailments. Tomic was scheduled to play Novak Djokovic Thursday night, but the 22-year-old talked about both back and wisdom tooth issues.

“[It’s the] lower back connecting to the hip area and the groin,” Tomic said. “I have been playing a lot of matches on it, and it’s just very painful now. It was a tough match for me yesterday. I think playing last night with Thanasi [Kokkinakis] under the medication that I was on, antibiotics, has made me feel like I have no energy today.

“The face is inflamed even more on the right side of my cheekbone,” he added. “It’s tough for me to actually even move and rotate my head at one stage, so I can’t really be turning. I’m scared to run on the back, as well. Everything is not good for me. And I had to play Novak, so it’s not something I want to go on court with.”

Tomic’s withdrawal sent the defending champion Djokovic into the semifinals Saturday afternoon against rival and friend Andy Murray. The Scot cruised to a brisk 6-3, 6-4 win over Feliciano Lopez to improve to 10-0 against the lefty from Spain.

“I thought I played a good match,” said Murray who moved past Tim Heman for most Open Era wins by a British man in the Open Era with 497. “Every time he came to net, I made it very difficult for him. I passed very well, and that was important because it meant that he spent more time at the back of the court. When we were in the baseline rallies, I felt like I was able to dictate a lot of those points. Passing shots were important today.”

Djokovic leads Murray 16-8 including five straight wins most recently at the Australian Open final.

“Until last year our head to head was pretty close,” Murray said. “Last year was a tough year for me, especially the first six, seven months. He’s obviously a top player, especially on this surface. He’s played extremely well here in the past. He will be totally fresh as well and ready for the semis, so it will be a tough one for me.”

Tomorrow, Rafael Nadal will try to keep his record perfect against big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic. Nadal, a 3-time Indian Wells winner, is yet to drop a set and has won all five meetings with Raonic.

“He’s an opponent that you don’t want to play against because you play under a lot of pressure, every point,” Nadal said. “What happened today with my serve twice cannot happen the next day if I want to have any chance… So it will be a very tough match. I know I need to be at my 100 per cent to have any chance.”

Roger Federer opens play against Tomas Berdych. The two have split their last four with Federer winning most recently last year in the final of Dubai. Overall is 12-6 in favor of the Swiss, but the two have been pretty even of late.

“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.

“I think he does very well, and probably also with a new team now he feels eager to try out new things and maybe gives him extra energy. So I think it’s going to be an interesting matchup for him having a new team in the back.”