The History of Men's Tennis (Open Era)

(5)Rafael Nadal d. (7)Juan Martin del Potro    4-6, 6-3, 6-4    [2:29 h]

It was a perfect ending of the Rafa’s comeback-period that stretched between Vina del Mar and Indian Wells. The Spaniard capturing his third Indian Wells crown (2007, 2009) won his 600th main-level match and 22nd Masters 1000 title (53 overall), thanks to that he edges Roger Federer in this prestigious stats again # Del Potro started slowly as he wanted to check how his body would react after two demanding matches in the past two days. Perhaps he realized everything was OK when he was *0:3 (15/40) down – he sped up then, saved the double break point and the level of his game in the next 40 minutes or so was awesome. He was hitting his forehand all over the place with impressive velocity and accuracy, returning all Nadal’s serves. The overwhelmed Spaniard lost his timing and looked a bit hopeless. But he has made so many comebacks in his career that he never gives up, and he once again withstood the assault of his opponent. He got his service game for 1:2 in the 2nd set obtaining his first point directly after the serve in seven service games! From 1:3 he considerably improved his backhand and notched a 5-game winning streak. The 6th game of that set was crucial – Del Potro won two fantastic points displaying gentle touch at the net, but was broken to ’30’ after all. At the beginning of the 3rd set he looked weary, but a bunch of thundering forehands helped him to save three break points. Nadal was entrenched, and another three games went to him. The Argentine saved a triple match point in the 9th game, but hadn’t left in the tank to fight for a break in the following game – Nadal forced him to an error on fourth match point and celebrated his 14th match won in a row falling on his back. Now he withdraws from Miami because he needs a few weeks of rest to prove he is the King of Clay for the… ninth year running. His European schedule on clay-courts is standard this year: Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros. In this type of form I don’t expect he loses more than one match during the European clay-court swing. “I think Rafa deserved to win,” said Del Potro. “The last hour of the match, he played so solid and put me so far [from] the baseline and made winners. But I think I [had] a good tournament anyway, and Rafa played really well today in the second and third sets. He broke me early in the third. Playing against him when the score is down is tougher. I was fighting all the time but he won in the end.” Nadal said about his sabbatical: “A lot of things happened the last seven months, [so] to be back here and to have this very heavy trophy with me is amazing. Beating three Top 10 players and winning a title like this is just something unbelievable for me. I’m very, very happy and very emotional.”

Doubles final:
(1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan d. T.Huey/J.Janowicz 6-3, 3-6, [10-6] *

Match stats (total points: 95-82):
Winners:
Nadal: 8 service, 4 aces, 25 FH, 3 BH, 2 volleys, 2 overheads
Del Potro: 11 service, 5 aces, 21 FH, 1 BH, 3 volleys, 2 overheads
Errors:
Nadal: 1 double fault, 21 FH, 13 BH, 1 volley, 1 overhead
Del Potro: 4 double faults, 25 FH, 21 BH, 3 volleys
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Nadal: 4/18 (eight games), 0/1
Del Potro: 3/3 (three games), 0/5

# Most Masters 1000 titles (inc. Mercedes Super 9 & Masters Series):

22 – Rafael Nadal (2005-2013)
21 – Roger Federer (2002-2012)
17 – Andre Agassi (1990-2004)
13 – Novak Djokovic (2007-2012)
11 – Pete Sampras (1991-2001)

* The Bryans just like Nadal have collected 22 Masters ‘1000’ shields. The twins have won 9 different titles (they hadn’t won at Indian Wells prior to 2013, two finals before), Nadal hasn’t still won Cincinnati & Paris-Bercy.

2nd semifinal:

(7)Juan Martin del Potro d. (1)Novak Djokovic    4-6, 6-4, 6-4    [2:50 h]

Djokovic was a dominant figure in the 1st set and confirmed it breaking Del Potro in the 10th game, but needed seven break points altogether to do it (Del Potro saved four break points serving at 3:4). I would argue that losing such a ‘4-6’ set which lasts almost an hour to Djokovic, Nadal, Murray or Ferrer is a bit like losing a tie-break set to vast majority of players. It is tough to keep focus on the highest level when you played your best in a set against an opponent you usually lose to, and you are beaten once again. Del Potro showed a day before against Murray, that he deals very well with those situations. Just like against the Scot, he forgot what happened a few minutes earlier, and broke at the beginning of the 2nd set; Djokovic broke back quickly, then lost his serve again after an entertaining, long rally finished with DelPo’s backhand down the line: one of the players run 62 meters during that rally, the other one 10 meters more. Del Potro built a 5:2 lead and didn’t waste the second opportunity to serve the set out. The 3rd set was draining, they were involved in many punishing rallies. Djokovic jumped to a 3:0* lead, but he seemed a bit more tired at the time. Nevertheless he was on a 22-match winning streak, with an 8-2 H2H record vs. DelPo, and hadn’t lost a match with a three-game advantage in the deciding set since Marseille 2007. Against all odds, Del Potro managed to level at 3 games apiece, and even had a double break point in the 7th game. What he squandered then, he converted two games afterwards. Serving to win the match Del Potro played two poor points leading 30/0, at 30-all Djokovic made an unforced errors from the backhand side, and the Argentine finished the match with an ace out-wide (the only point that separated them in total points), his just fourth during the longest match of this year’s tournament. Obviously Del Potro is known for his blistering forehand, but you can’t beat Murray and Djokovic in back-to-back matches using just one weapon. Del Potro has lately developed very good backhand slice which allows him to keep the ball in play when he hasn’t a good enough  position to attack with his double-hander. “I was doing a very good match until the third set, but Novak had the chance to beat me when I was down 3-Love,” said Del Potro. “But I came back soon and that gave me a little confidence to come back in that set. Then also the crowd wanted to watch more tennis and [it] helped me to play my best tennis in the end. I think it was my best match in this tournament, for sure.”

Match stats (total points: 101-100):
Winners:
Del Potro: 21 service, 4 aces, 15 FH, 5 BH, 3 volleys, 1 overhead
Djokovic: 12 service, 5 aces, 12 FH, 7 BH, 8 volleys, 5 overheads, 2 dropshots
Errors:
Del Potro: 3 double faults, 27 FH, 15 BH, 2 volleys, 1 overhead
Djokovic: 2 double faults, 25 FH, 21 BH, 2 volleys
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Del Potro: 5/12 (six games), 1/3
 Djokovic: 4/11 (five games)

1st semifinal:

(5)Rafael Nadal d. (6)Tomas Berdych    6-4, 7-5    [1:43 h]

Berdych could hope to snap a streak of 11 consecutive losing matches to Rafa, because he’s been arguably playing his best tennis for a few months whilst the Spaniard hasn’t lately played too many matches on hardcourts. Despite that, their quarterfinal match did not vary from most of their encounters in the recent years – the Czech played his standard solid tennis (good enough to beat Gasquet or Anderson in straights), but all the big points took Nadal. First serious test for Berdych came in the 7th game of the 1st set when he saved two break points, but sent a forehand wide from a good position trying to save the third one. In the 2nd set, Nadal helped considerably committing a double fault at 3:4 (30/40). Berdych was serving to level at one set apiece, only to play the weakest service game of the match. Two games later came a small disaster – Berdych shamefully mis-hit an overhead on a break point. In the next game he had three break points for a tie-break, but on each occasion Nadal responded with a service winner. It’s the third time he beats Berdych ‘6-4 7-5’ (Cincinnati ’09, Rome ’12). “It was a good tournament. I beat a couple of good guys and I had a good run,” reflected Berdych. “My game was also very solid the last couple of weeks that I have been playing… But I’m still trying to push it more and more.” Nadal said about advancement to his fourth final in four tournaments since the comeback: “It’s certainly something amazing for me, totally unexpected, and I received more support than ever from the crowd every place that I played. That’s always a very, very special feeling. Thank you very much [to] all the people.”

Match stats (total points: 74-65):
Winners:
Nadal: 15 service, 2 aces, 12 FH, 1 BH, 2 overheads
Berdych: 16 service, 4 aces, 7 FH, 1 BH, 2 volleys
Errors:
Nadal: 1 double fault, 21 FH, 11 BH, 1 volley
Berdych: 4 double faults, 21 FH, 15 BH, 1 overhead
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Nadal: 3/7 (three games), 0/2
Berdych: 1/4 (two games), 1/3

4th quarterfinal:

(7)Juan Martin del Potro d. (3)Andy Murray    6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1    [2:32 h]

It was their first meeting since November 2009! It’s a very good match-up so I’d like to see more of their matches in the near future… After a sluggish start in the opening game, Murray escaped from a double break point and there was no other break point in the 1st set. In the tie-break, the Scot led 5:2 on serve, but dropped two points. An amazing rally occurred then, consisted of 43 strokes (whilst the second longest ’23’), Del Potro was in defense almost throughout, played many backhand slices and finally made an error. He kept his composure despite losing a tight set which lasted an hour, and broke Murray to ‘love’ immediately at the beginning of the 2nd set, winning at the net with a stretch-volley one of the most entertaining rallies of the match that gave him a triple break point. Murray finally had his first break point leading 1:0 in the deciding set – Del Potro fought it off with an overhead. The Argentine from *0:1 won six games in a row, but in five of them Murray was a point or two points away from winning those games, so the 3rd set was more equal than the scoreline would suggest. Murray analyzed: “I thought I hit the ball decently throughout the match, but I played better when I needed to in the first set; then obviously hadn’t managed to break him in the match. I had some chances in the second set, didn’t manage to get them. I could’ve served better and returned better. Two pretty important parts of the game.“

Match stats (total points: 99-84):
Winners:
Del Potro: 16 service, 3 aces, 7 FH, 2 BH, 3 volleys, 6 overheads, 1 dropshot
Murray: 16 service, 8 aces, 9 FH, 6 BH, 6 volleys, 3 overheads, 1 dropshot
Errors:
Del Potro: 1 double fault, 20 FH, 12 BH
Murray: 8 double faults, 25 FH, 26 BH, 3 volleys
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Del Potro: 4/11 (6 games), 2/7
Murray: 0/2 (2 games), 0/1

3rd quarterfinal:

(1)Novak Djokovic d. (8)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga    6-3, 6-1    [0:54 h]

The Frenchman had no answers to Djokovic’s brilliant performance. The Serb was better even in departments usually reserved for Tsonga: the serve and the net-game. It’s Djokovic’s eighth consecutive win over Tsonga and he collects these victories easier and easier (10 straight sets since their thriller in Paris last year). He has won his last 22 matches and in this kind of form it’s tough to imagine that a player outside the big four would defeat him in the next few months. Tsonga said: “I’m disappointed about my feelings today and the whole match. I made a lot of mistakes. It was tough for me to keep the ball in the court. Not because he put me under a lot of pressure. I don’t know how to explain that, but it was a day for me without sensation. Everything I tried to do, I missed it.” Even though Tsonga loses regularly to the Top 4 guys in the last two years, he is still a leader in terms of percentage comparing “Little-Big 4” vs. Big 4

Match stats (total points: 58-30):
Winners:
Djokovic: 10 service, 8 aces, 5 FH, 4 BH, 4 volleys
Tsonga: 12 service, 2 aces, 2 FH, 0 BH, 1 volleys, 2 overheads
Errors:
Djokovic: 0 double faults, 5 FH, 6 BH
Tsonga: 4 double faults, 12 FH, 5 BH, 5 volleys, 1 overhead
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Djokovic: 4/9 (6 games), 1/1
Tsonga: –

2nd quarterfinal:

(5)Rafael Nadal d. (2)Roger Federer    6-4, 6-2    [1:24 h]

29th mutual meeting of two titans of the game, the earliest one since the inception of their great rivalry in Miami 2004. Every time they are gathered on court together, tennis fans around the world are excited and expectations are high. So this time they were disappointed because Nadal’s superiority was visible from start to finish. The Spaniard just like Berdych a couple of hours earlier, didn’t need to play anything extra, he was just collecting points from the baseline (they didn’t play even a single volley during their victories on Thursday!). Federer was slow and erratic, he didn’t run a few times towards his right side to balls he normally reaches with his “squash shot”. Nadal lost his serve once but it occurred when the match was virtually over at 3:0 for him in the 2nd set with a two-break advantage. Federer said: “The longer the match went on, I realized I had to change up my game. I played differently than I was hoping to be able to. Obviously, he got more comfortable as the match went on, as well. Things became difficult. Obviously once I was down a set I knew it was going to be difficult.”

Match stats (total points: 73-54):
Winners:
Nadal: 14 service, 1 aces, 9 FH, 9 BH, 1 overhead
Federer: 13 service, 4 aces, 5 FH, 1 BH, 2 volleys
Errors:
Nadal: 2 double faults, 8 FH, 18 BH
Federer: 0 double faults, 16 FH, 20 BH, 2 volleys
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Nadal: 4/11 (6 games), 0/2
Federer: 1/2 (1 game)

1st quarterfinal:

(6)Tomas Berdych d. Kevin Anderson    6-4, 6-4    [1:30 h]

High frequency of meetings between these two. They hadn’t met prior to 2012, and now have played six matches against each other, all won by Berdych (five on hardcours). Their quarterfinal at BNP Paribas Open was monotonous and boring. Berdych, focused on service games, stuck to the baseline, awaiting Anderson’s errors. The South African tried to dictate the pace, he was producing more winners, but generally looked a bit intimidated as the only unseeded quarter-finalist among the elite players of this sport, and failed when it mattered the most – in the 10th games of both sets: committed two double faults trying to stay in the 1st set, and saw helplessly two consecutive forehand return winners of Berdych, trying to stay in the match. The Czech secures his semifinal spot without dropping a set, no-one even played a tie-break against him in four matches. It’s his best result at Indian Wells, the previous best: quarterfinal three years ago. “I feel quite well on court, and especially I would say physically, because I already play quite a lot in the past couple of weeks,” said Berdych. “So that’s the important sign for me, that I can be fit for the guys in the next rounds. Then I can focus on the game that I want to play and the game what is working.“

Match stats (total points: 71-61):
Winners:
Berdych: 21 service, 5 aces, 7 FH, 2 BH, 1 overhead
Anderson: 16 service, 8 aces, 15 FH, 1 BH, 3 volleys
Errors:
Berdych: 1 double fault, 8 FH, 8 BH
Anderson: 3 double faults, 21 FH, 11 BH
Break point conversion & Challenges:
Berdych: 2/7 (4 games)
Anderson: 0/3 (2 games), 0/2

Fourth round

Two halves of the draw at Indian Wells are separated by different days of play, except the fourth round when all encounters are gathered in one day. So many good players in the last 16 that officials decided to schedule all matches on two main courts, those on Stadium 1 were longer than expected, and in the consequence Novak Djokovic, who was scheduled on 8:30 p.m. against Sam Querrey, stepped onto the court after midnight! The Serb avenged his loss to Querrey with a 6-0 7-6(6) victory at 1:51 a.m. local time (ghosts of the Parisian repetition were in the air because the American won 0-6 7-6 6-4 then). Among three 3-setters which preceded Djokovic’s appearance, the most intriguing battle was witnessed between Rafael Nadal (10 wins in a row) and red-hot qualifier Ernests Gulbis (13 wins in a row, including 5 in qualifying tournaments). It was playing entirely under the floodlights despite it supposed to be a “day match”. The Latvian raised his level accordingly to the occasion, and was delivering throughout much more complex tennis than at Delray Beach where he 10 days ago captured the title. He was hitting forehand harder, more precisely, he was very patient on his backhand side and didn’t allow himself any moment of madness if we don’t count rather silly fist-hitting into strings of his racquet which left his right fingers bleeding in the mid-3rd set. Tennis-wise he did nothing wrong until 10th game of the final set when he led 5:4 (30/15) and showed some sings of nervousness. Two points later, he was two points away from an upset once again, and played great backhand down the line, but Nadal responded with his defensive mastery and passed Gulbis with his next stroke (BH down the line). In the following game Gulbis netted two relatively easy forehands and was broken at 15. The Spaniard serving to book his place in the quarterfinals, converted third match point with a heavy top-spin (4-6 6-4 7-5). “I was more aggressive. I went for my shots much more than him,” Gulbis said. “But he did really incredibly well, as he always does, on the important points. It’s really tough to beat the guy.” Nadal’s next opponent, and arch-rival, Roger Federer also won 7-5 a final set facing Stanislas Wawrinka. The Swiss derby should have been finished 40 minutes earlier, but Federer squandered a 5:3 lead in the 2nd set to lose first tie-break to his countryman having won six previous breakers. In the deciding set, Federer saved a mini-match point at 4-all with a tight forehand winner which landed on the line within a deuce-box. In the first match on Stadium 1, Kevin Anderson in front of rather empty stands, outsmarted Gilles Simon 6-3 1-6 6-4 actually tanking the 2nd set as early as lost his serve for 1:2, only to find another gear at the start of the decider jumping quickly to a 2:0 lead and holding all service games convincingly to the end. The South African is the only unseeded player in the quarterfinals but I don’t treat this as a surprise because I wrote after watching his Sydney & Melbourne matches that he’s been currently playing a Top 20 tennis.
Stadium 2. Here, the most equal match played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic (4-6 7-5 6-4). The Frenchman had some problems with his left leg, but the serve didn’t abandon him in the most important moments, in contrary to Raonic’s serve. The Canadian was broken twice trying to level (all other service games won without any troubles), committing a double fault on match point. It was a weird situation because both players didn’t realize that the match was over – the technology let down at the end of the 3rd set and Raonic simply couldn’t challenge his serve, but I think the ball was clearly out so he shouldn’t blame anyone but himself for the departure. Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych confirmed their aspirations to replace Ferrer as No. 5 (even though he’s currently one place higher) thrashing Tommy Haas and Richard Gasquet respectively. Andy Murray rather unexpectedly was pushed to a hard work against Carlos Berlocq. The Argentine was even serving to win the 1st set at 5:4. He managed to break the Scot three times in total, but Murray notched a straight sets victory anyway (7-6 6-4). “It was tough,” admitted Murray. “He started well and he was playing very aggressive. He had a lot of chances in the first set. He obviously served for it. And then the second set was kind of the other way around. I had a lot of chances, but it was still tight. All the games were pretty close, a lot of long games and longish rallies.”

Third round…

…was preceded by an earthquake in the Monday morning (5.2 on the Richter scale). Fortunately it didn’t affect facilities and all matches started according to the plan. There wasn’t such a good 35-year-old player on tour since 2007 when Jonas Bjorkman was able to win three straight matches in a tournament. Admittedly, Tommy Haas turns 35 next month, but it’s tough to expect this particular date changes anything. The German [20] enjoys his second or third youth. In the third round he survived a tough battle with higher ranked and seven years younger Nicolas Almagro. The Spaniard held a match point serving at 5:4 in the 3rd set, Haas played a dropshot then, it wasn’t a great shot, but the German automatically used all his experience and moved in his right direction before Almagro hit the ball, and he hit it exactly there where Haas was awaiting to make a half-volley from the back of the court into the open court. It was a crucial point, Almagro was never the same afterwards, and lost 3-6 7-6(2) 6-7(2), Haas’ 10th win from a match point down. The big 4 guys moved through the fourth round don’t wasting too much energy, Rafael Nadal at all, because his potential opponent Leonardo Mayer withdrew due to back pain. Novak Djokovic was *2:5 (30-all) down in the 1st set against Grigor Dimitrov, but controlled the match since then to the end entirely, winning 7-6(3) 6-1. He next meets his last tamer – Sam Querrey, who prevailed the longest match of the tournament so far (2:47 hrs) against Marinko Matosevic. Querrey triumphed 7-6(5) 6-7(7) 7-5, winning for the first time despite losing a match point-up set; the last set was consisted of five breaks.The biggest contenders of the Big 4 advanced to the last 16 not dropping a set yet, but Jo-Wilfried Tsonga should have lost two: in the second round he saved a triple set point in a tie-break against James Blake (two on return), two days later rallied from a 0:4 deficit in the 2nd set against Blake’s buddy – Mardy Fish. The Frenchman won 7-6(4) 7-6(0). “I felt like I could have easily won the match,” said Fish. “Bunch of break points obviously in the first set, and the second set was what it was. Tennis wise it’s a good sign that it hasn’t taken too long to get the form back. I usually don’t lose 4:0 sets very often. I can’t remember the last one.” 30-year-old Carlos Berlocq [37] still improves, after a shocking destruction of Kei Nishikori, 6-2 6-2, the Argentine has won for the first time three matches in a Masters 1000 tournament. Similarly to Berlocq, won his match Kevin Anderson, who also lost just four games (against Jarkko Nieminen). The South African played actually a perfect match, losing just one point when his 1st serve was in, and it happened on a match point when Nieminen played his best tennis during a quite long rally. A moment later Anderson fired an ace to finish the job, he said afterwards: “I think it’s important after a win like Ferrer to try and capitalize on your opportunity. The conditions are playing really nicely I feel. The balls are bouncing up. I think that suits my game nicely. I think I’m moving. I’m giving myself time from the baseline. I’m feeling healthy. My elbow is getting better with each match.”

Always nice to see: very strong field out there, all 32 seeds were covered with the first 32 ATP ranking places. A few players came back on tour: Andy Murray (five weeks time off because of his new schedule – the Scot wants to be concentrated only on the biggest events this year), Philipp Kohlschreiber (4-week break due to a hamstring injury) and Mardy Fish (he didn’t play six months, heart problems); Rafael Nadal in turn, played his first match on hardcourts in 346 days.
Fish [32] notched a comeback win despite a *2:4 down in the deciding set against Bobby Reynolds, winning the last four games (won 16 out of 19 points in the end). Murray squandered six mini-set points at 5-all in the 1st set of his match against Safin’s protegee, Masters 1000 debutant Evgeny Donskoy [87], but snapped a streak of 7 losing sets in a row at Indian Wells, taking a full control over the match from 1:2 in the 2nd set to notch a 5-7 6-2 6-2 win in 2 hours 15 minutes. Kevin Anderson, who recently underwent an elbow surgery which sidelined him four weeks, and now plays with a special elastic bandage, made the biggest upset of the second round eliminating David Ferrer 3-6 6-4 6-3. The South African [37] saved a double mini-match point at 4-all in the 2nd set and recovered from a break down at the beginning of the decider. “It was fantastic,” said Anderson. “Obviously David is a great player, and especially in the past few years he’s really stepped it up. Beating a Top 5 in the world player is always a great feeling, and especially somebody like David who doesn’t go away. I mean, he fights for everything.” Last year’s finalist, John Isner has been in a poor form this year, he was beaten 7-6(6) 3-6 4-6 by Lleyton Hewitt, who didn’t lose his serve. “It’s a tough match. I knew it was going to be. Lleyton is such a good competitor,” said Isner. “I felt like I could have played a little bit better. I needed to play very well to win today, and I don’t feel like I necessarily did that. But I think Lleyton had a lot to do with it. It’s very disappointing.” Hewitt, a champion of the BNP Paribas Open ten years ago, has won two matches in a Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2009! Janko Tipsarevic and Fernando Verdasco suffered the worst main-level defeats in their careers, Verdasco won just one game against Jarkko Nieminen whereas Tipsarevic was thrashed 2-6 0-6 by Ernests Gulbis (the Serb lost a match winning only two games six years ago in Amersfoort). The 28-year-old Tipsarevic is on a 5-match losing streak not having even won a set (!), his peer Juan Monaco has been in a bigger slump. The Argentine has lost 8 out of last 10 tournament matches, including all this year. This time he wasted two set points on serve and lost 5-7 0-6 to Marinko Matosevic. Gilles Simon made second sensational comeback within one year, in Rome ’12 he rallied from a 0:4 deficit in the 3rd set against Garcia-Lopez, this time he did it the same against Paolo Lorenzi. The Italian led 4:0, 5:1 (deuce), held a double match point serving at 5:2, and blew another match point in the following game. Simon, who won 6-3 3-6 7-5, trailed also 0:3 in the opening set! Carlos Berlocq  rallied from the brink of defeat too, against Alexandr Dolgopolov. The Argentine saved a double break point at 1:3 in the 3rd set to win five straight games and the match 6-3 6-7 6-3. Novak Djokovic needed hardly 19 minutes to get the 1st set against Fabio Fognini. Everything went so easily that the No. 1 lost his concentration for about 15 minutes, and the unpredictable Italian leveled after saving a match point with a service winner. The Serb pushed himself to a harder work, saved a break point in the opening game of the 3rd set and moved through to the third round with a 6-0 5-7 6-2 decision.