Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Related News
Federer ousts Karlovic, Murray eases through
Source: Agencies |
March 18, 2009, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ROGER Federer and Andy Murray each took a step closer to a possible semifinal showdown with relatively routine third-round victories at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
Federer, a three-time Indian Wells winner ranked No. 2, downed Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Monday.
Playing his first event since withdrawing from the Dubai tournament and the first round of Davis Cup because of back problems, Federer came up with big shots when needed against Karlovic.
Federer said he hadn't been sure if his game was coming together. "It's tough to say. I don't think I've had an awful lot of rhythm in my last two matches. Even in my first match, there was quite a bit of serving going on," Federer said.
"I don't think I've had to face break point yet in the first two matches, so that's a good thing. That kind of keeps you a bit relaxed. I'm seeing the ball OK. My baseline game, I can't really judge it."
Down 1-3 in the tiebreaker, the Swiss star evened it with points on a volley past Karlovic, then a low, hard forehand that the Croatian couldn't handle. Karlovic, ranked No. 28, then made a series of unforced errors, including hitting a forehand long for the final point of the tiebreaker. Federer, who had said he was rusty coming into Indian Wells, looked considerably sharper in the second set, reeling off the hard, accurate groundstrokes that made him the world's top player for so long.
The 21-year-old Murray, a Scot ranked No. 4 and off to a 17-1 start this season, overpowered Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-2. Murray served six aces, won 21 of 25 first-serve points and jumped on his French opponent's second serve to take 17 of 24 points.
"I served big when I needed to and moved very well again," Murray said.
"Bar a couple of games where I lost my concentration a little bit, it was a very solid match," he said.
Asked whether he believes Federer can climb back to No. 1, Murray said, "Yeah, no question he can. I just don't think he's going to be dominating the sport like he did when he clearly was No. 1 by a long way. I think he's going to lose more matches than he did before just because the standard of tennis has gotten better."
No. 17 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile made quick work of James Blake, needing only an hour and five minutes to beat the American 7-5, 6-1. No. 13 Blake made 35 unforced errors, 11 more than Gonzalez.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic, also last year's French Open winner who spent some three months atop the women's ranking, defeated Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-3 in their third-round match.
Daniela Hantuchova, the 2002 and 2007 champion, also advanced, outlasting Petra Cetkovska 7-5, 7-5 in their night match.
Federer, a three-time Indian Wells winner ranked No. 2, downed Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Monday.
Playing his first event since withdrawing from the Dubai tournament and the first round of Davis Cup because of back problems, Federer came up with big shots when needed against Karlovic.
Federer said he hadn't been sure if his game was coming together. "It's tough to say. I don't think I've had an awful lot of rhythm in my last two matches. Even in my first match, there was quite a bit of serving going on," Federer said.
"I don't think I've had to face break point yet in the first two matches, so that's a good thing. That kind of keeps you a bit relaxed. I'm seeing the ball OK. My baseline game, I can't really judge it."
Down 1-3 in the tiebreaker, the Swiss star evened it with points on a volley past Karlovic, then a low, hard forehand that the Croatian couldn't handle. Karlovic, ranked No. 28, then made a series of unforced errors, including hitting a forehand long for the final point of the tiebreaker. Federer, who had said he was rusty coming into Indian Wells, looked considerably sharper in the second set, reeling off the hard, accurate groundstrokes that made him the world's top player for so long.
The 21-year-old Murray, a Scot ranked No. 4 and off to a 17-1 start this season, overpowered Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-2. Murray served six aces, won 21 of 25 first-serve points and jumped on his French opponent's second serve to take 17 of 24 points.
"I served big when I needed to and moved very well again," Murray said.
"Bar a couple of games where I lost my concentration a little bit, it was a very solid match," he said.
Asked whether he believes Federer can climb back to No. 1, Murray said, "Yeah, no question he can. I just don't think he's going to be dominating the sport like he did when he clearly was No. 1 by a long way. I think he's going to lose more matches than he did before just because the standard of tennis has gotten better."
No. 17 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile made quick work of James Blake, needing only an hour and five minutes to beat the American 7-5, 6-1. No. 13 Blake made 35 unforced errors, 11 more than Gonzalez.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic, also last year's French Open winner who spent some three months atop the women's ranking, defeated Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-3 in their third-round match.
Daniela Hantuchova, the 2002 and 2007 champion, also advanced, outlasting Petra Cetkovska 7-5, 7-5 in their night match.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
