Associated Press
Indian Wells, March 16: Defending champion Novak Djokovic continued his dominance of Philipp Kohlschreiber, winning 7-5, 7-5 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open here Tuesday.
Rafael Nadal survived a wild tie-breaker to beat Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 7-6 (11-9), while two-time champion Serena Williams fired seven aces in a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko in the fourth round.
Djokovic, seeking his fifth title in the desert, beat Kohlschreiber for the eighth time in nine career matches against the German, who had 29 unforced errors. Djokovic had triple match point leading 5-3, 40-love when he missed an easy overhead. He was up a break in the first set when he also dropped serve.
Nadal, a three-time Indian Wells winner, saved five set points in the tie-breaker and finally closed it out on his second match point when Verdasco’s backhand sailed beyond the baseline.
“Feel lucky to win the tie-break, and at the same time I think at the end of the set I played well with not many mistakes and going for the points,” Nadal said after the match.
Nadal advanced to the fourth round against Alexander Zverev, who beat 16th-seeded Gilles Simon, 6-2, 6-2. In other matches No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori edged Steve Johnson, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6) and next plays another American, John Isner, who beat Adrian Mannarino, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Serena hit 26 winners offset by 22 unforced errors to go with seven aces in her second Indian Wells appearance since 2001. She is yet to drop a set in three matches.
Five of the top 10 women’s seeds players have been knocked out, seemingly clearing the way for Serena to win her third career title here and first since 2001.
“So far I think my consistency has been well; being aggressive has been well; everything that I’ve wanted to do I’ve kind of been doing,” stated Serena.
Serena will play defending champion Simona Halep in the quarterfinals, a year after she withdrew before their semifinal match with a knee injury. Halep beat Serena at the 2014 WTA Tour finals.
“I like how she’s aggressive. She’s a fighter,” Serena pointed out. “She killed me at one point, so I definitely have to be ready.”
Halep advanced when Barbora Strycova retired because of illness trailing 6-3, 1-0. Also retiring was No. 9 Roberta Vinci, who trailed Magdalena Rybarilova 6-2, 2-0 when she quit with a left ankle injury.
In other women’s fourth-round matches, Agnieszka Radwanska defeated 2010 winner Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-3, and Petra Kvitova defeated qualifier Nicole Gibbs 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. No. 12 Timea Bacsinszky however, lost to Daria Kasatkina 4-6, 2-6.
