Number two seed, Dane Caroline Wozniacki, continued her fine play while 4th seeded Elena Dementieva and impressive Aussie Samantha Stosur joined five other winners in the quarterfinals at the BNB Paribas Open. Only Dementieva and Wozniacki remain of the top seeds at Indian Wells.
Second seeded Novak Djokovic keeps winning three set matches but continues find ways to add more drama to each win. The word number two survived three match points against German fireballer Phillipp Kohlschreiber in a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5) two hours 35 minutes war.
Bookmaker favorites Kim Clijsters and 3rd seeded Victoria Azarenka fell prey to the incredible upset trend that has prevailed throughout the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. For Clijsters, the loss to Russian Alisa Kleybanova ended a fifteen match winning streak at the desert venue and was a stunning blow to her career comeback. Combined with her humiliating loss to Nadia Petrova (6-0, 6-1) in Melbourne, it is clear that Clijsters has to re-focus a bit.
Two Russian beauty queens bit the dust on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open. Former Indian Wells Champion and world number one, Maria Sharapova, continues to struggle with her comeback effort. The 22-year old battled China’s up and coming upset queen Zheng Jie for three hours only to come up short in the 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 third round match. Sharapova broke Zheng twice in the final set but was unable to improve her inconsistent serve as Zheng broke back each time.
For a while on Sunday, it looked like Romanian Victor Hanescu looked a party-spoiler for Roger Federer. The 28-year old Swiss star was awarded the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite Player of the Year Award after his second round match in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Federer also received the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for 2009.
The upsets and near upsets just keep coming at Indian Wells. And, the fans are liking the highly competitive play. More than 23,300 fans turned out Saturday, setting a new single day record at the BNP Paribas Open. Heavy favorites are taking their hits and struggling to stay alive in the hotly contested early rounds.
Svetlana Kuznetsova seems to have trouble in the limelight. Last year, Kuznetsova claimed her second Grand Slam in Paris and played so well that she jumped to number two in the world rankings. The notoriety has not served her well.
Australian Open and Brisbane finalist Justine Henin could not overcome dangerous Argentine Gisela Dulko who won a see-saw 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 match. The 31st seed was very much in form, while Henin showed a bit of rust from an extended layoff. The serve was the key in this one as Dulko lost all three of her service games in set two only to come up with a key reversal in set three and upset her idol. Henin had won their only previous meeting.
The Cinderella Dream is on hold, at least for another two weeks. Melanie Oudin, who hoped a return to big galleries and American soil would lead her to a repeat of her performance at last year’s U.S. Open became a first round casualty at Indian Wells. Oudin did not have the fuel to stay with Italian upstart Roberta Vinci, who fought back for the 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 triumph.
The men swing into action today at the 2010 Paribas BNP Open. All the biggest stars will be there, vying for their share of the more than $3.6 million purse. Indian Wells drew more than 330,000 last year and indications are that this year the turnstiles will keep moving. Why not? This is the crème de la crème of men’s tennis in a great venue with good weather.
