Tournament favourite Rafael Nadal suffered an upset as he was knocked out in the third round of the Indian Wells. PHOTO: AFP
“I played bad, that’s all,” Nadal said. “I’m disappointed with the way I played, but that happens sometimes.”
Nadal said his ground strokes let him down, but his troubles had nothing to do with the sore back that slowed him in his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian Open final.
“I am fine with the back,” Nadal said. “I didn’t have bad feelings with my back. The bad feelings were with the forehand and the backhand.”
Ukraine’s 31st-ranked Alexandr Dolgopolov ended world number one Nadal’s run of eight straight trips to the semi-finals or better at Indian Wells with 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) triumph.
In the tiebreaker, Dolgopolov thought he’d sewn it up with an ace on his first match point, but Nadal challenged and the ball was ruled out. He put his second serve in play, and ended it with a stinging forehand.
“I just went for the winner,” he said.
Sharapova stunned by 79th-ranked Giorgi
Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi stunned defending champion and fourth seed Maria Sharapova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the fourth round.
The 79th-ranked Giorgi needed two hours and 36 minutes to notch her third career win against a top-10 player, aided by an error-strewn performance from Sharapova.
The Russian superstar hit only 16 winners and 58 unforced errors. Giorgi’s stats weren’t impressive either, and they combined for 15 breaks of serve. “I did not play a good match at all,” Sharapova said.
“I started very poorly. Never played against her, but she’s someone that doesn’t give you much rhythm. “She’s quite aggressive, but some shots she hit incredible for a long period of time.“But, you know, if I’m speaking about my level, it was nowhere near where it should have been.”
Murray, Federer advance through
Two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray survived a scare from young Czech Jiri Vesely.
Murray, formerly ranked world number two but currently sixth, had to rally in the second and third sets to defeat the 20-year-old, 77th-ranked Vesely 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, and the Scot dubbed it “a frustrating match.”
Seventh-seeded Roger Federer, a four-time champion at Indian Wells, also advanced 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/2) victory over 27th-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2014.
Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ