Indian Wells: Men's Quarterfinals

The men’s quarterfinals are now also set in Indian Wells, and other than the viral illness I mentioned yesterday in the ladies’ post, the big story is perhaps the shaky nature of the seemingly impregnable big 4. Only Nadal has managed to get through without losing a set while Djokovic and Federer have each lost two (Anderson and Andujar, Raonic and Bellucci). Worse than that, Murray, after beating Djokovic just two weeks ago, has flamed out of this tournament in back-to-back years with a loss to Garcia-Lopez. Also the second tier of players (Ferrer, Tsonga, Berdych) that have been solid but not great in recent months have disappeared leaving the door open for fringe top 10-ers Almagro, Isner, and suddenly Simon.


Fish and Roddick have faltered at the top of American tennis, but the lower ranking Americans have put in the decent tournament with Harrison reaching the round of 16 for a second consecutive year, and Sweeting, Querrey, Ginepri, and Kudla getting wins. In all, the local favorites are 12-13 with Isner still alive and favored to make his second consecutive Masters semifinal as he meets Simon next.

Here are the eight men still standing:
1) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
2) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
3) Roger Federer (SUI)
9) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)
11) John Isner (USA)
12) Nicolas Almagro (ESP)
13) Gilles Simon (FRA)
David Nalbandian (ARG)

Matchups are Djokovic/Almagro and Isner/Simon today with Federer/Del Potro and Nadal/Nalbandian competing tomorrow.

Half the quarterfinalists from last year are still in the field, and all 4 made the semis last year: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Del Potro.
Nalbandian has recorded probably his best result since the hip surgery in 2009 followed by a host of other injuries. And this was no lucky draw either as he beat Cilic, Tipsarevic, and Tsonga in successive matches. Maybe he is finally fully healthy again. Australian tennis getting more press here with Ebden, barely ranked inside the top 100, defeating Benneteau and Fish before succumbing to Isner.

Seeds losing their opening round matches were 4) Murray, 15) Lopez, 16) Gasquet, 17) Nishikori (is he going to disappear now after his ascension to the top 20), 18) F.Mayer, 20) Melzer, 24) Cilic, 25) Troicki (to Harrison), 31) Chela, and 32) Benneteau.