The top half of the men’s draw at the BNP Paribas Open was a mixed bag with some dominant and some unexpected wins. Most of the top seeds in the half advanced into the fourth round, while Vasek Pospisil, who had stunned Andy Murray in the last round, was beaten by fellow qualifier Dusan Lajovic.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka rolled past German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3 to reach the fourth round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters. The Swiss didn’t face a single break point and is set to meet lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka next, who prevailed over Tomas Berdych in a stunning comeback win.
The Japanese qualifier beat the 13th seed 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, elevating his game impressively. The 21-year-old had to save a match point against his own serve in the 10th game of the second set. However, he hung on to force a decider which he closed out easily, to reach the fourth round of a Masters tournament for the first time.
Meanwhile, Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil fell to Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-5 just two days after beating World No 1 Murray. Pospisil failed to hold on to his momentum and went from serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set to being broken to love, and then failing to convert a match point as Lajovic won the last four games.
Dominic Thiem, the eighth seed, had a simple road to the fourth round as well with straight sets 6-1, 6-4 win over Mischa Zverev. Although serve-and-volley exponent Zverev saved five match points in the ninth game of the second set, he couldn’t do much against the Austrian who won in less than an hour. Theim will meet Gael Monfils next, who powered to a straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over USA’s John Isner.
The others into the next round were David Goffin who beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Cuevas who overcame Fabio Fognini, who had earlier beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Pablo Carreno Busta also advanced after Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut withdrew with abdominal muscle injury.
Murray out of doubles as well
In the doubles draw, Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki ousted top seeds and defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 5-7, 6-1, 11-9, saving a match point in the tie-break. On the other hand, Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic held three match points, but lost to sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 3-6, 7-6(4), 11-9.
Andy Murray and partner Daniel Evans were beaten by Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-3, putting an end to a potential quarter-final clash between the Murray brothers, as fourth-seeded Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat Treat Huey and Max Mirny 7-6(3), 6-3.
Australian Open champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alexander and Mischa Zverev. Gilles Muller and Sam Querrey also advanced, beating Florin Mergea and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-1, 1-6, 10-6.
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