Top seeds fall in the first weekend at the BNP Parisbas Open in Indian Wells. The first Saturday and Sunday at the 2015 Indian Wells Masters provided some upsets and some straightforward victories for the top seeds in the men’s singles. Stanislas Wawrinka and Milan Cilic fall while Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal progress.
The first major casualty came on Saturday with number 10 seed and current US Open champion Marin Cilic falling at the hands of Juan Monaco of Argentina. Saturday was Cilic’s first match of the season after spending the first part of the year sidelined by injury. Monaco produced some consistent play to claim the match 6-4 6-4 in 85 minutes and took advantage of Cilic’s lack of match practice capitalising on 4 out of his 5 break point opportunities. The 30 year old Argentine will play youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis who overcame Garcia-Lopez in a three set battle nearing 3 hours, for a chance at the 4th round.
David Ferrer learned of his next opponent after coming through a tight three set match against Ivan Dodig. Ferrer who is making his 12th appearance in Indian Wells this year rallied past the Croat in a match lasting almost three hours and came from a set down to win 4-6 6-1 7-6. The Spaniard will play Australian Bernard Tomic made it through on saturday. Tomic took out Borna Coric comfortably 6-3 6-4.
There will be a match of the big servers in the third round after Kevin Anderson beat DelBonis 7-4 6-4, he will take on home favorite John Isner after the American who is playing his way into some decent form beat Jurgen Melzer 6-3 6-4. Andy Murray also came through on day three in Indian wells after beating talented young Canadian Vasek Pospisil in straight sets. Its been a solid start to the year for Murray which he has carried into Indian Wells, beating his opponent 6-1 6-3. The Scot will next face 26th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round.
Djokovic and Nishikori enjoyed success on Saturday both enjoying straight set victories. Djokovic overcame Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis with an easy 6-1 603 scoreline whilst 5th seed Nishikori enjoyed a 6-4 6-4 win over American Ryan Harrison.
Sunday was the turn of Federer, Nadal and Wawrinka to open their Indian Wells campaigns, with mixed fortunes for the 3 men. Number 2 seed Federer dismissed Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-4 6-2 on Sunday in a match lasting little over an hour. Federer hit 8 aces and faced no break points on his serve throughout the match. The Swiss may find his next opponent a little tougher, Federer will face Andres Seppi in the 3rd round. Seppi who beat Federer earlier in the year in the 3rd round of the Australian Open beat Victor Hanescu 6-4 6-4 surviving both break points he faced on serve.
Rafael Nadal started his campaign for a fourth Indian Wells crown after he brushed aside Igor Sijsling 6-4 6-2. The Spaniard cruised to victory, winning 96 percent of first serve points and took advantage of his 9 break point opportunities on Sijsling’s serve taking the match in 72 minutes. Rafa will face fellow leftie Donald Young in the third round after the American overcame 31st Seed Chardy 6-4 6-2.
Stanislas Wawrinka did not enjoy the same success as his countryman on his return to Indian wells, despite making a solid start to the year. The number 7 seed had a bad day at the office, losing in 3 sets to Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Wawrinka couldn’t capitalize on his chances and only managed to save 1 out of 5 break points on his own serve with Haase taking the match 6-3 3-6 6-3 in almost 2 hours.
Other results throughout the weekend were positive for the seeded players, Tomas Berdych beat Stakhovsky 6-1 6-4. Milos Ranoic also had a straight forward victory beating Bolelli 6-3 6-4. Grigor Dimitrov had a slightly tougher opening match in Indian Wells needing 3 sets and two tiebreaks to get past his talented young opponent Nick Kyrigos of Australia 7-6 3-6 7-6. 13th seed from France Gilles Simon also made it through to round three in 3 sets beating Malek Jaziri 6-3 4-6 6-2.
The Spaniards enjoyed a successful weekend too with Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez both coming through their matches. Verdasco beat Australian Jack Duckworth 6-2 7-6 while Lopez needed three sets to beat Roger-Vasselin 6-7 6-4 6-4 coming from a set down to claim victory. Another player who was in much need of a victory this year was 14th seed Ernests Gulbis who beat Gimeno-Traver 6-4 6-1 to notch his first match win of the season.
It was a mixed weekend in Indian wells for the top players with the majority of the seeded players making it through to the third round. Monday will have many more surprises in store with Murray, Djokovic and Kei Nishikori all featuring with the pick of the day’s action being Nishikori taking on Fernando Verdasco for a shot at the 4th round.
