Apologies for the lack of Indian Wells postings...now that we're getting into the good stuff, as in the seeds are playing, the coverage will be nonstop. Don't quote me on that.Rafael Nadal kicked off his BNP Paribas Open campaign with a solid victory over Rainer Schuttler 6-4, 6-4. 10th seeded Marin Cilic suffered a loss to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (1), 6-0, while Fernando Verdasco stayed alive with a 4 and 1 win. Gilles Simon was upset 7-5, 6-4 by qualifier Brian Dabul, while Novak Djokovic, the 2nd seed, barely escaped one, pulling out his night match against Mardy Fish 6-1, 0-6, 6-2. Tomas Berdych advanced in 3 sets and Ivan Ljubicic beat American Ryan Harrison in straights.
The top seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova, proved just how undeserving she is of that notion as her inconsistent results continued with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 loss to Carla Suarez Navarro. Russians Maria Sharapova and Alisa Kleybanova edged out their opponents in their respective matches with thrilling, and often ugly, 3 set wins. Marion Bartoli won 6-4, 6-2 to join Yanina Wickmayer, a 2 and 4 winner, in the 3rd round.
Nikolay Davydenko, the 5th seed, ousted Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4 and Viktor Troicki advanced after his opponent, Pablo Cuevas, retired after just 1 game. Andreas Seppi took out crowd favorite Robby Ginepri in 3 sets, while Paul-Henri Mathieu, Victor Hanescu and Evgeny Korolev were 2 set victors.
Victoria Azarenka showed she is a bright spot in the future of women's tennis, as she trounced Sybille Bammer 6-1, 7-5, but her counterpart, Ana Ivanovic, looked embarrasing in a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Anastasija Savastova. Aussie Ana was a finalist in IW last year, so due to the early-round loss, she will fall out of the top 50, where she belongs. Can we even refer to this as an upset, because I'm sure as hell not surprised. Coach Gunthardt: get your head out of the gutter and use your coaching skills on someone worthwhile.
Both Flavia Pennetta and Agnes Szavay moved on to the 3rd round in straight setters.
No comments:
Post a Comment