Under clear blue skies, the Californian desert must have seemed like paradise for Rafael Nadal, John Isner and Nicolas Almagro as they breezed into the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
And there were no complaints, either, from women’s No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who totally outplayed No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-2. Radwanska, who had criticized Azarenka’s high-pitched grunts in Australia, said she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Frustratingly for the talented Pole, Radwanska has lost only four matches all year — they have all been to Azarenka.
The win puts Azarenka into the semifinals. It also runs her record for the year to 21-0. She already has won three titles this season, and the chase is on for Martina Hingis’ record 37-0 start to the 1997 season.
Nadal continued his fine form by beating Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-2; Isner came through against promising Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-4, 7-5 and Nicolas Almagro, ranked No. 12, made a mockery of the seeding by totally dominating No. 7 Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-0. Unlike at the Australian Open, when Berdych refused to shake Almagro’s hand after having a ball hit straight at him, the pair did shake hands and Berdych knew he had nothing to complain about. He had been comprehensively outplayed.
Life was not quite as easy for Novak Djokovic, who dropped the second set after smoothly brilliant start against Spain’s Pablo Andujar, now ranked No. 43, whom Djokovic has known since boyhood. Nadal eventually went through 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-2, avoiding the fate he suffered when they met in Belgium as 16-year-olds. “I had six match points and lost 7-6 in the third,” Djokovic recalled with a smile.
Roger Federer found handling Thomaz Bellucci’s left-handed serve almost as difficult as Milos Raonic’s the night before. For the second straight match, Federer dropped the first set before taking control in the later stages to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“I was struggling to make the transition (from last night against Raonic) because this match was decided at the baseline really instead of serve and return,” Federer said. “Bellucci has a very good backhand, a dangerous forehand with a lot of spin. He’s a lefty and his serve is unusual. So it has a lot of effect on everything. At the end of the day, these are the wins that almost feel better, to be honest, because when you’re playing great, it’s simple, it’s easy, right?”
For Federer maybe. For other mortals, not so much.
Experienced Argentine David Nalbandian caused another upset by saving a match point at 4-5 in the second before beating sixth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who tired at the end of a grueling encounter and went down 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
