Thursday, March 14, 2013
Federer battles into last eight at Indian Wells
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
INDIAN WELLS, California (Reuters) - Defending champion Roger Federer rode his luck to battle past fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka a 6-3 6-7 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday.
Roger Federer (R) of Switzerland and compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka shake hands after their match at the BNP Paribas Open ATP tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, March 13, 2013. REUTERS/Danny MoloshokFederer, a four-times champion at Indian Wells, appeared to be in cruise control when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set but was broken to love before his opponent went on to clinch the tiebreak 7-4.
The players traded early breaks of serve in the third set before Federer sealed the win by again breaking Wawrinka in the 12th game when his Davis Cup partner netted a forehand.
"I definitely got a bit lucky here tonight," Federer said courtside after coming out on top of a fluctuating contest lasting two hours 20 minutes.
"But I'm very happy to come through against Stan, who is a very good friend of mine."
Federer, who improved his record against Wawrinka to 13-1, will next face either twice champion Rafa Nadal of Spain or Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, who play later in the day.
In other matches, sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych eased past Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1 7-5 while eight-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came from a set down to beat Canada's Milos Raonic 4-6 7-5 6-4.
In a showdown between two power servers, Raonic blasted down 12 aces to Tsonga's seven but the Canadian made a double fault when serving at 30-40 for the contest to end in just under two hours.
Earlier, big-serving South African Kevin Anderson became the first player to reach the last eight, and his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, with a 6-3 1-6 6-4 victory over Frenchman Gilles Simon.
- Yongbo: Beat us if you can, not good for China to win all the time
- Thai Ratchanok wins many hearts with her gritty display
- Indonesian Rexy's advise to M'sian team: Stick together as a family
- Tennis: Djokovic blocks Nadal path to Paris super eight
- Squash:M'sian Nicol beats New Zealander in straight sets to reach last four
- NBA: Pacers edge Heat to even series
- Squash: Matthew offers a message with a warning
- South Korea in seventh heaven
- Golf: Molinari leads but Ryder Cup colleagues crash out
- Arat: Istanbul bid to host the 2020 Olympic is about building bridges
- Fernley says costs threaten some F1 teams
- Rosberg tops crash-filled final Monaco practice
- Djokovic and cold weather threaten Nadal's Paris bid
- Rosberg puts Mercedes on pole in Monaco
- Sunshine comes Just-in time as Rose blooms with 69
- Rosberg on pole for Monaco Grand Prix
- South Korea in seventh heaven
- F1 is a superego trip for Wurz's wife
- Make betting legal, says top Indian body
- NBA: Pacers edge Heat to even series
RSS
