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There was second round action in the bottom half of the men’s draw at Indian Wells, while the bottom of the women’s draw kicked off third round action. Here’s a look at the most significant results:
Women’s singles 3rd round
Sixth seed Simona Halep overcame stiff resistance from 26th seed Lucie Safarova on her way to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over the Czech. Halep started the first set well, cruising through it 6-2, before suffering a blip in the second. However, she showed character when it mattered and eventually sealed the win to set up a pre-quarterfinal against Canadian sensation and Australian Open semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard. The Canadian had an easier match against former French Open finalist Italian Sara Errani, going through 6-3, 6-3. Bouchard showed why she has been labelled as “one for the future”, with a great display of shot-making.
Aussie qualifier Casey Dellacqua continued her fantastic run of form, defeating Errani’s doubles partner and 13th seed Roberta Vinci 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a come-from-behind victory. Dellacqua put on a gutsy display to reach the pre-quarterfinals, and has now set up a clash with another surprise pre-quaterfinalist in Lauren Davis. Davis, who beat Azarenka in the second round, overcame fellow American Varvara Lepchenko in a ruthless 6-3, 6-2 victory. Both Delacqua and Davis have a fantastic opportunity to reach the quarterfinals in what promises to be a great match.
Serbian seventh seed Jelena Jankovic faced no real resistence from Magdalena Rybarikova as she defeated the 31st seed 6-3, 6-2 to set up a clash against Denmark’s former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Wozniacki defeated Yaroslava Shvedova in a see-saw 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 victory. The two went toe-to-toe in the first set, Wozniaki taking it 9-7 in the tie-break, before Shvedova hit back to take the second. However, in the third the Kazakh seemed to be out of energy and bowed out meekly.
Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska was absolutely brilliant as she double-bagelled German Annika Beck to reach the round of 16. Radwanska hardly put a foot wrong, and she has now set up a contest against Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. Cornet was pushed to the limit by the second opponent of her Spanish double-header in Carla Suarez Navarro, battling to a 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 win. The firt set was well-contested as was the second but there was no coming back for Navarro in the third as Cornet stormed into the round-of-16.
Men’s singles 2nd round
In the men’s section 8th seed Richard Gasquet seemed to be breezing past Teymuraz Gabashivili, winning all 8 games of the match, before the Russian retired. Gasquet goes on to play Spaniard 30th seed Fernando Verdasco. Verdasco negotiated a potentially tricky clash against seasoned dirt-baller Horacio Zeballos, winning 7-5, 7-5.
Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu had a night to remember as he reached the third round, smashing past German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-2; he now faces home-town hope John Isner. The giant American defeated veteran Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-6, 6-3.
“Baby Federer” Grigor Dimitrov defeated Dutchman Robin Haase with considerable ease, 6-4 6-3. He now plays Latvian Ernests Gulbis in what will likely be an absolutely cracking match. Gulbis was a 6-3, 6-3 victor over Portuguese Joao Sousa.
26th seed Florian Mayer retired injured and conceded the match while down 2-6, 0-1 against Finn Jarkko Nieminen. Nieminen now faces Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who shocked the world with a fantastic 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over fourth seed and overwhelming favourite Tomas Berdych.
Britain’s James Ward got a last-minute lucky loser spot into the main draw in place of Juan Martin del Potro and started well, taking the first set off Spain’s Feliciano Lopez before going down 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. Lopez advances further and now plays Mikhael Kukushkin who absolutely ripped apart a hapless Vasek Pospisil 6-0, 6-2.
Austria’s Dominic Thiem upset 21st seed Gilles Simon to advance to phase-2 of his French double-header as he now takes on Julien Bennetau. Bennetau had no problems in defeating a lacklustre and disappointing Jo Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Spain’s Tommy Robredo played a tightly contested match against Marinko Matosevic, before battling past him and into the 3rd round with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline in a thoroughly entertaining match. Robredo now faces Croat Marin Cilic who eased past Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-2.
Serb No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic also advanced, defeating Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6, 6-2 after which he admitted he wasn’t happy with his performance. And considering the amount of errors he made, he had no right to be. Nevertheless, Djokovic marches onwards and now faces 91st-ranked Colombian Alejandro Gonzales who fought tooth and nail to defeat Ivan Dodig 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
