INDIAN WELLS, UNITED STATES // Novak Djokovic launched his bid for a sixth ATP Indian Wells Masters crown with a two-set triumph over Kyle Edmund as the stars shone Sunday in the California desert.
The 46th-ranked Edmund served for the second set at 5-3, but world No 2 Djokovic broke him en route to a 6-4, 7-6 triumph.
His reward is a tough third-round clash with former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, a 7-6, 6-3 winner over fellow Argentine Federico del Bonis.
“I think I played very well in the first set,” Djokovic said. “Second set was obviously up and down. But credit to Kyle for playing some really aggressive tennis.
“He made a lot of winners in the beginning and midway through the second. There was not much wrong I did. I did miss some forehands. But other than that, it was a very solid match. Good, quality tennis, a good test.”
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also reached the third round, Federer flying through with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over France’s Stephane Robert in just 51 minutes. Nadal secured a steady 6-3, 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Guido Pella.
The three stars are packed together in a remarkable bottom quarter of the draw.
But Djokovic said he cannot afford to think about a possible quarter-final clash with either of his longtime rivals with Del Potro coming up.
While Djokovic has won 12 of their 16 career meetings, the Argentine handed him a crushing two-tiebreak defeat in the first round of the Rio Olympics, a defeat Djokovic avenged in Acapulco this month.
“Big guy, big serve, big forehand,” Djokovic said of Del Potro. “Definitely not the draw that you like early in the tournament and that you wish for, but it is what it is,” added Djokovic, who is trying to get back to the winner’s circle after a shock second-round exit at the Australian Open and a quarter-final loss to Nick Kyrgios in Acapulco.
Ninth-seeded Federer, resurgent after a 2016 season marred by injury, downed Nadal in an epic Australian Open final to secure his 18th grand slam title.
He hit a speed bump in Dubai this month, failing to convert three match points in a third-round loss to Evgeny Donskoy, but he was firing on all cylinders against the 81st-ranked Robert.
“Very happy,” said Federer, who missed Indian Wells last year with a knee injury that required surgery. “Knee is a thing of the past, which is great. I don’t even have to think or talk about it.”
Nadal was pleased with a “solid” opening effort against Pella, made trickier by the oven-like mid-day temperatures and the fact that Pella, like Nadal, is a left-hander.
“I didn’t try to do amazing things. I tried to play solid,” the fifth-seeded Spaniard said. “For moments I played well. For moments I played a little bit less well. Important thing, I won, and I won in straight sets.”
Nadal knows he will have to turn up the intensity if he wants to end a hard-court title drought stretching back to 2014.
The bottom half of the draw also features fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, who eased past Britain’s Daniel Evans 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday.
But sixth-seeded Marin Cilic, who beat Nishikori in the 2014 US Open final, was an early casualty, beaten 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 by 19-year-old American Taylor Fritz.
The jam-packed half of the draw is a contrast to the wide-open top half, which lost a lot of its lustre on Saturday when world No 1 Andy Murray was stunned by 129th-ranked Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil.
“That’s sport, no?” Nadal said. “Yesterday probably Andy didn’t play his best match and Vasek served very well. So then you go to a tiebreak and anything can happen.”
Women’s draw
French Open champion Garbine Muguruza got a fright from Kayla Day but outlasted the precocious American teenager 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in California on Sunday.
Day took the first set from the seventh seed and had two break point opportunities at 5-5 in the second but the 17 year old was unable to hammer home her advantage.
Muguruza used her experience to get out of trouble, eventually set up a meeting with Ukrainian 10th seed Elina Svitolina in just over two hours under a relentless sun at Indian Wells.
“I started a bit off,” the 23-year-old Spaniard said. “My shots weren’t there. The experience of keeping calm and fighting helped; it’s no secret.
“I think I’m improving in general a lot of things, but I know that maybe two years ago this match I wouldn’t turn it around. I think that’s experience.”
Muguruza was impressed with Day, the US Open junior singles champion.
“She reminds me a little of me, when I was super motivated and playing very good,” she said.
Day hoped to learn from her defeat.
“I was pretty upset after my match, because it didn’t go the way I wanted it in the end but if you look at the big picture, I was able to push a top-10 player really far,” she said.
On a day when three matches went to third set tiebreaks, there ultimately were no big upsets, with Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova and Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetzkova also winning.
And fifth seed Slovakian Dominica Cibulkova also advanced, if only barely, saving a match point in a 2-6, 7-6, 7-6win over left-handed Czech Kristyna Pliskova, whose 18 aces were not enough.
Pliskova also had 13 break opportunities in the third set alone, but converted only two.
In an even closer encounter, Swiss 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky survived four match points to beat Dutch 18th seed Kiki Bertens 6-3, 5-7, 7-6.
Eleventh seed Johanna Konta was the highest ranked player to fall, the Briton edged 3-6, 6-3, 7-6by Carolina Garcia of France.
Results
Men’s second round
■ Taylor Fritz (USA) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x6) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
■ Malek Jaziri (TUN) bt Marcel Granollers (ESP x32) 7-5, 6-3
■ Jack Sock (USA x17) bt Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
■ Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x12) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-4, 6-0
■ Lucas Pouille (FRA x14) bt Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-3, 6-2
■ Donald Young (USA) bt Sam Querrey (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
■ Gilles Muller (LUX x25) bt Jirí Veselý (CZE) 7-6 (7/1), 6-1
■ Kei Nishikori (JPN x4) bt Daniel Evans (GBR) 6-3, 6-4
■ Rafael Nadal (ESP x5) bt Guido Pella (ARG) 6-3, 6-2
■ Fernando Verdasco (ESP x26) bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1
■ Steve Johnson (USA x24) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4)
■ Roger Federer (SUI) bt Stéphane Robert (FRA) 6-2, 6-1
■ Nick Kyrgios (AUS x15) bt Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 6-3, 6-4
■ Alexander Zverev (GER x18) bt Facundo Bagnis (ARG) 7-6 (12/10), 6-3
■ Juan Martín del Potro (ARG x31) bt Federico Del Bonis (ARG) 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
■ ■ Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Women’s third round
■ Karolína Pliskova (CZE x3) bt Irina Camelia Begu (ROM x29) 6-4, 7-6 (7/2)
■ Timea Bacsinszky (SUI x15) bt Kiki Bertens (NED x18) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (10/8)
■ Elina Svitolina (UKR x10) bt Daria Gavrilova (AUS x24) 6-2, 6-1
■ Garbine Muguruza (ESP x7) bt Kayla Day (USA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
■ Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x5) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4)
■ Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x19) bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE x17) 6-3, 6-2
■ Caroline Garcia (FRA x21) bt Johanna Konta (GBR x11) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1)
■ Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x8) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA x26) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
* Agencies
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