Indian Wells: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No 3 Roger Federer each needed three sets to reach the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday, while No 1 Victoria Azarenka improved to 21-0 on the season with a straight-set win on the women's side.
Second-ranked Rafael Nadal beat 21st-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final against David Nalbandian, who upset sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
"The match started the perfect way for me, with a break, so that give me confidence. I felt confident with my serve during all the first set. Just in the last set I had trouble. He had more mistakes than usual at the beginning," Nadal said.
Djokovic, the two-time defending champion, beat Pablo Andujar 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-2, racing through the first set in 27 minutes before Andujar picked up his game. The Spaniard, who had lost his previous meeting against Djokovic in straight sets, held at love to even the second set 1-1, drawing encouraging cheers from the crowd at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Federer got by Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a fourth-round match that finished under the lights and completed a parade of the world's highest-ranked players. It was Federer's 12th straight win, making him 19-2 on the year. It was also his 74th consecutive victory against a player outside the top 20, and he has won 36 of 38 matches since the US Open.
"I struggled early on making the transition from day to night. I thought I would see quicker improvements, but still hurting a bit. But at least I don't have sort of a massive headache and aches and pains anymore," said Federer, a three-time champion here whose cold has kept him from practicing much during the tournament.
Federer used a big serve to go up 5-4 in the third set, then won on his second match point when Bellucci committed his second straight forehand error.
"These are the wins that sort of almost feel better, to be quite honest, because when you're playing great, it's simple, it's easy, right?" But when it's not going your way and things are difficult, that's kind of the good wins," Federer said.
Azarenka routed fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-2 in just over an hour to tie Serena Williams' 2003 record of 21-0 to start a season. The Belarusian has already won three titles this year, and now has her sights on Martina Hingis' record 37-0 start to the 1997 season.
"I was executing my shots brilliantly," said Azarenka, who next plays 18th-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, a 6-4, 6-2 upset winner over No 8 Li Na.
Against Djokovic, Andujar held at 6-all to force a tiebreaker, which he won 7-5 as the Serb committed a slew of errors. Djokovic broke to open the third, then again to lead 5-2. He served out the match at 40-love, winning when Andujar's forehand service return sailed wide.
"He surprised me with his aggressive approach. He was taking the ball early and was playing well."
Second set, I start playing a little bit more defensive, and that allowed him to come back to the match. All the credit for him to play the way he played. The second set I could have won, but I managed to stay calm mentally and just find my rhythm again," Djokovic said.
Andujar fell to 1-8 against top-10 players, although he hung in for a stretch against Djokovic, keeping him on the run at the baseline with deep shots. The friendship between Djokovic and the 26-year-old Spaniard dates to when they played each other in an under-16 match in Belgium.
"I had six match points, and I lost that match 7-6 in the third set. We joke around a bit at the times when we were growing up," Djokovic said.
Radwanska won two of the final three games in the quarter-final match to avoid a shutout in falling to 1-5 in her career against a No 1-ranked player.
"I was (ticked), yeah, in the first set especially losing 6-love is not fun. Especially when you expect that you're at this kind of level that you can beat anyone. But then I was seeing that she was playing just too good," she said.
All four of Radwanska's losses this year have been to Azarenka, including a straight-set defeat last month in Doha when Azarenka injured her ankle.
She kept playing, but appeared to be in pain and was visibly distraught. Radwanska later said she "lost a lot of respect" for Azarenka because her behavior wasn't a good image for women's tennis.
"I hope I was a good example of women's tennis," Azarenka said on Wednesday.
She had said earlier that she never had a problem with Radwanska, and the two women briefly clasped hands at the end of their latest match before walking away.
"It was the past, and now is a new tournament, new match. You know, everything from the beginning," Radwanska said.
Azarenka also insisted there was no carryover from the situation in Doha.
"I have to play a very good match and show excellent tennis to beat her, so that's what I was mainly focussed on," she said.
"She's the same person, same great player as she was before, and I have tons of respect to her game."
Other winners were: No 11 seed John Isner, who defeated Australia's Matthew Ebden 6-4, 7-5; and No. 12 Nicolas Almagro, who defeated No 7 Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-0. No 13 Gilles Simon outlasted young American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final against Isner.
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