World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and defending champion Novak Djokovic stayed on course for a semi-final showdown with third-round triumphs at the Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday.
Top-seeded Nadal triumphed 6-3, 6-3 in a tricky encounter with Russian Dmitry Tursunov, while third-seeded Serbian Djokovic beat German veteran Tommy Haas 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).
“It wasn’t one of my best matches, true,” said Australian Open champion Nadal, who had to save a break point in the final game, but won the next three points to secure the win.
PHOTO: AFP
Nadal‘s victory, which earned him a fourth-round match against Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who hasn’t dropped a set against Nadal in two career meetings, both in 2007 before the Spaniard’s rise to No. 1.
“The first thing is to play well,” Nadal said of what he’ll have to do against Nalbandian, who beat Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-2. “Second, I have to play really aggressive, because if he has control of the point it is nearly impossible.”
Djokovic, who beat Nadal in last year’s semi-finals en route to the title, started strong, but would have preferred to finish off Haas more quickly.
PHOTO: AFP
Overall, however, the 21-year-old was satisfied that he was moving in the right direction.
“Better than the first match,” was Djokovic’s assessment. “I played really well in the opening set and then could have done the job a bit earlier.”
Djokovic next plays Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, who saved two match points in the third-set tiebreaker to claim a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/8) victory over Sam Querrey of the US.
PHOTO: AFP
Sixth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro advanced, beating Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/2).
Seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick edged Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Roddick will face 12th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, who rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, while del Potro will face wild card John Isner of the US, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over former world No. 1 Marat Safin of Russia.
PHOTO : AFP
Meanwhile, Safin’s younger sister, top-seeded Dinara Safina, led the way into the women’s quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over US veteran Jill Craybas.
Safina, who can seize the world No. 1 ranking from the absent Serena Williams if she reaches the final, lined up a meeting with eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who downed Israeli Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-4.
Safina won all three of her meetings against Azarenka last year.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic booked a quarter-final berth, the fifth-seeded Serbian downing Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. She’ll face Austrian Sybille Bammer, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova.
Rising Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 17, continued the run of success that saw her oust second-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the second round, advancing to the quarter-finals when opponent Nuria Llagostera Vives retired in the second set with a hip strain.
Pavlyuchenkova was leading 6-3, 3-0 when the Spaniard called it a day.
Pavlyuchenkova will face seventh-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Agnes Szavay 6-0, 5-7, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva also advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over China’s Li Na. Zvonareva next faces ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki, a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Urszula Radwanska — the younger sister of Agnieszka.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,