Rafael Nadal came back to win the final five games and beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday in an intense, crowd-pleasing rematch of their Australian Open semi-final.
Nadal, the defending Indian Wells champion, avenged his lopsided loss in Melbourne with a scrappy 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) 7-5 victory in the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open.
After Tsonga, a hard-hitting Frenchman, went up 5-2 in the third set, Nadal held serve the rest of the way and broke Tsonga's serve in the ninth and 11th games to take a 6-5 lead.
PHOTO: AP
With the crowd beginning to cheer even as he set up for the shot, Nadal capped the match by slamming an overhead past Tsonga.
The Spaniard insisted he wasn't out for revenge, but acknowledged that the match was significant in another way.
"He is going to be one of the rivals for this year, will try to be in the top positions, so I try to win. These matches are very important always," the 21-year-old said.
Tsonga considered the match important for another reason.
"I would like to show everybody my run in the Australian Open was not luck," he said. "I want to prove to everybody I can play at this level, so I'm disappointed about this."
Tsonga played brilliantly at times in the rematch against Nadal, but mistakes cost him at other times.
After ending a long rally when both hit several outstanding shots, Tsonga ended it with a drop shot that Nadal somehow managed to hit back, then a bang-bang volley that left Nadal lying on the ground at the end of the point. That brought Tsonga back from a 15-40 deficit to deuce in the 11th game, but he quickly followed that with a double-fault, then hit a forehand long to lose the game.
Driving powerful forehands down the lines, Tsonga had 47 winners overall -- but made 56 unforced errors. The far more consistent Nadal finished with 27 winners and 27 unforced errors. Tsonga, who had 18 aces when he stunned Nadal in Australia, had 11 against him at Indian Wells, but also double-faulted seven times.
The match lasted 3 hours, 3 minutes, and the crowd seemed rapt, reacting loudly to practically every point. Some fans yelled "Go, Ali!" a Tsonga nickname alluding to his resemblance to boxing great Muhammad Ali, and others screaming, "You can do it, Rafa!"
World No. 1 Roger Federer, bidding for his fourth Indian Wells title in five years, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ivan Ljubicic to also move into the quarter-finals.
Maria Sharapova extended her unbeaten record this year to 18 matches and reached the women's semi-finals with a 7-6(2), 6-1 victory over defending champion Daniela Hantuchova. Sharapova won the tournament in 2006, and Hantuchova has taken the title twice, the first time in 2002.
James Blake earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Richard Gasquet, and Mardy Fish beat Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(4) to advance to the quarter-finals.
In other matches, Djokovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guillermo Canas; Tommy Haas edged Andy Murray 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; and David Nalbandian beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-2.
In a women's quarter-final, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS