World No. 2 Roger Federer fought off Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 on Wednesday in Indian Wells to book his place in the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open.
Federer had not faced a break point on serve through his first two matches, but dropped serve for the first time as Gonzalez locked up the second set. The Swiss quickly went up the decisive 2-1 break in the third set with a forehand winner and broke again to take a 5-2 lead before going on to post his 12th win in 13 matches against the Chilean.
“I enjoy playing Fernando because it's so tactical, but then at the same time it's so brutal, so aggressive,” said Federer. “You think you have a slight chance to win the point, and then you realize, no, there's actually none. It's pretty interesting with him.”
The 27-year-old Swiss improves to a 27-5 record in Indian Wells, tying him with Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt at No. 2 on the list of match wins leaders at the year’s first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament. Federer, a winner of three straight BNP Paribas Open titles from 2004-06, is attempting to become the first player to claim the title four times. Americans Jimmy Connors and Michael Chang also won three.
He will next confront another Fernando, World No. 10 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, who posted a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber to reach his first quarterfinal at a hard-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. Federer has a 2-0 record against Verdasco with both wins coming on clay at Hamburg.
“I'm looking forward to playing more baseline rallies against Verdasco,” said Federer. “I'm sure that's going to happen. It's a good thing that I'm still in the tournament and facing an opponent who actually is going to extend the rallies a little bit. It's going to be a nice match, I'm sure.”
The two players are making their first tournament appearance since the Australian Open, sidelined respectively by back and ankle injuries for the past month.
Verdasco, who achieved a Grand Slam-best semifinal finish in Melbourne with wins over Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, said about coming back from injury: “The first matches it was so important to see if I was feeling good off the ankle – winning or losing – just if I was okay, without pain and everything. So now that I won three matches already, I'm in quarterfinals. I did all the good things that I supposed to do. Now with Federer I will try to do a great match. I don't have anything to lose.”
British No. 1 Andy Murray gained safe passage into the quarterfinals, leading Tommy Robredo 6-2, 3-0 when the Spaniard retired with a right wrist injury. The 21-year-old Murray, a semifinalist in 2007 (l. to Djokovic), will next face unseeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. The two have alternated wins in their past four matches, with Murray winning most recently in February at Rotterdam.
Whereas Murray spent 50 minutes on court for his fourth-round match, Ljubicic toiled for more than three hours to earn a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win over 22nd-seeded Russian Igor Andreev. He saved five match points on serve at 5-6 in the third set, and came back from a 1-3 deficit in the tie-break with five straight points. He put away the win with a drop volley on his second match point.
Ljubicic, who celebrates his 30th birthday on Thursday, reached the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals in 2006 and '07.
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2658.asp)
