Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic recovered from a poor start while third seed Andy Murray displayed much sharper form as they both advanced to the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Top seed Djokovic beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 6-1 in an error-strewn match on the Stadium Court in hot afternoon conditions at Indian Wells before Scotsman Murray overcame Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun 6-3 6-2 in an evening encounter.
Seventh seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina brushed aside Germany’s Bjoern Phau 6-2 7-5 while eighth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withstood a fast start by Mardy Fish to overcome the American 7-6 7-6.
Djokovic came from 2-5 down to win his opening set 7-4 on the tiebreak, then broke his opponent’s serve in the second and sixth games of the second set to seal victory in just over an hour.
Dimitrov, who at 21 was the youngest player left in the draw, made four double faults when serving for the first set at 5-3 and his challenge then quickly folded.
Serb Djokovic extended his winning streak to 20 matches, his last defeat coming in October to big-serving American Sam Querrey in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris.
Intriguingly the pair will meet again in the last 16 at Indian Wells, Querrey having scraped past Australian Marinko Matosevic 7-6 6-7 7-5 earlier in the day.
«I tried to hang in there and stay in the match,» a relieved Djokovic said courtside after improving his record for the year to 15-0. «I started very bad, very poor.
«He served very well but he made four double faults at 5-3 and got me back into the match. He made a lot of unforced errors and I just had to get the ball back in the court.»
Source: Buenos Aires Herald