Ah...the final 16 are upon us at Indian Wells. The tournament is only now getting started. Hey everyone, Maurizio here with more results and analysis of third round action at the Pacific Life Open. We had some great matches yesterday that left us with some very interesting fourth round matches to look forward to so lets dive right into it.
Of course we can't continue further without mentioning the fact that TennisCast Idol Juan Carlos Ferrero survived his match against Acasuso. The former #1 needed three sets to move into his 4th round match and 6th encounter against Spain's current #1 Rafael Nadal. It all came down to the third set where Ferrero kept his first serve percentage at 70% while Acasuso brought his first serve percentage down to 38% helping Ferrero face more second serves and allowing the Spaniard to achieve the final break of the game at 4-4. It was a tight match the whole 2 hours and 15 minutes it took to complete but Ferrero came through and posted the 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 win. Ferrero, as mentioned above, will now face the trophy biting Rafael Nadal who is trying to win his first tournament since Roland Garros last year. Ferrero stopped him once at Cincinnati last year lets hope he can pull it off again this year. Nadal breezed through Fernando Verdasco, also of Spain, 6-4, 6-4.
Another fourth round match we'll really be looking forward to will be that between Tommy Haas and Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, a rematch of the Australian Open Semifinal where Gonzo obliterated Haas in straight sets. Haas posted up a bagel in his 6-0, 6-3 fifty six minute win over Gabasvilli. He should be well rested for his upcoming match against the Gonz. Gonzo, though, had a very different match. It took Fernando an hour and forty one minutes to dispose of Robin Soderling. There were no breaks in the first set and each had one in the second. Gonzo dominated both tiebreakers and won in straight sets, although the match was a lot tougher than what that makes it sound like, with a score of 7-6(4), 7-6(2).
The next fourth round match was posted when Davydenko and Murray won their respective third rounders. Their matches were eerily similar, with Davydenko's match lasting an hour and six minutes while Murrays lasted a minute less and their scores were identical if the sets were moved around. Davydenko defeated Hernych 6-3, 6-1 while Murray ousted Mahut 6-1, 6-3. All this could be a precursor to a great round of 16 matchup.
In an interesting turn around streak killer Canas was taken out by TennisCast hero Carlos Moya in a very routine match. It was almost as though Canas hadn't achieved anything special the day before. Moya saved 5 break points and broke twice, once in the first to serve it out and once in the second to serve out the match. It was nonetheless a lengthy match with plenty of great rallies from the two veteran players. Moya saving the break points and converting his two chances were key as the match was ridiculously close with Moya winning 51% of the total points. Moya will face David Ferrer in the round of 16. Ferrer needed two quick sets to finish Tipsarevic's run in the tournament and made five break points to help ease his way into the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3 score.
Djokovic seems to have gotten a wonderful draw. His third round match was extremely routine and leaves him with plenty of energy for his next match. He disposed of young 19 year old Korolev 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour. If his level of play continues at this level he should find his next match relatively easy. He'll be facing Julien Benneteau who discarded James Blake 6-2, 7-6(1). Blake's hole-in-one before the tournament seemed to sink in all his luck and left him with none to spare for the tournament. Maybe he'll decide to play golf and sink a hole-in-one after he's one a tournament. Those four hours could have come in handy for practice. I think he'll stay in our Double Faultin' list for next week.
Roddick seemed back to the top of his game during the first set of his third round match against one of the Rochus brothers but faltered in the second, although he was still able to pull the win in two sets. In took Roddick 2 hours and 30 minutes to dispose of the small Rochus one. This was due to the fact that there were no breaks in the second set. The final score was 6-3, 7-6(5). Roddick's opponent will be none other than the better than Federer crafted one handed backhand Frenchy Richard Gasquet. Gasquet got past Jarkko Nieminen in three sets. It was a two hour match that featured 6 breaks in total each with three. With his 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win Gasquet will look to keep Andy Roddick sitting on our Double Faultin' list along with his friend James Blake.
Juan Ignacio Chela and Michael Russel also have a fourth round match forthcoming. Chela went through easily with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Gilles Simon. Russel broke through Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain with a 6-1, 7-5 win. Our last two players that make up our talented final 16 include hard fighting David Nalbandian and Nasdaq Finalist Ivan Ljubicic. Nalbandian seemed to forget he was looking to improve his ranking when he lost the first set 6-7(3) to Mathieu but quickly recovered and took the next two sets with relative easy 6-2, 6-0. If he could of played like that from the beginning the score sheet would look a lot more impressive. Ljubicic was in top form and seems ready to move through to the quarters as he dismantled Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-4 in his third round match.
Round of 16 match action is set to start today at Indian Wells with Ljubicic vs Nalbandian at 1pm (pacific time) and continues with Ferrero vs Nadal (we'll keep a very close eye on this one), Chela vs. Russel and the night match between Gasquet and Roddick. Oh its a wonderful tournament we're getting this week. Make sure to come back later today as we analyze today's matches before they get going. ATP Master Series TV has the matches live so make sure to check them out. Also don't forget that ESPN2 begins coverage tomorrow at 11am eastern time. This is Maurizio from TennisCast wishing everyone out there a good day...go ahead and cheer for Ferrero we know you want to.
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