IW: Troicki Reaches Fourth Round By Winning Only One Game

Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki reached the fourth-round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday when his proposed opponent Nikolay Davydenko was forced to retire with a broken left wrist.

Troicki received a retirement in his second-round match when his opponent Pablo Cuevas sustained a back injury. Troicki also received a first-round bye for being seeded No. 29 in the event.

Troicki is guaranteed $39,800 and 90 ATP World Tour points in the event that he loses his next match.

Troicki will face either Tomas Berdych or Fernando Verdasco in the round of 16.

IW: Davydenko Breaks Left Wrist

Russian Nikolay Davydenko was forced to withdraw from his third-round encounter with Viktor Troicki on Monday due to a broken left wrist.

Davydenko originally injured his wrist while battling Robin Soderling during the semifinals of the Rotterdam event in February.

Davydenko may be forced to miss the entire clay-court season.

Indian Wells: Live Day Four Round Up

by: Nima Naderi

Indian Wells, CA—Top seed Roger Federer won his first match since Australia on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1.

Winning the first set in routine fashion, Federer won 100 percent of his first serve points (11-11) while breaking Hanescu’s serve on one occasion. What appeared to be a straight set win by the Swiss superstar, quickly became a second set battle. Breaking Federer’s serve to lead 5-2, Hanescu utilized his fluid one-handed backhand and competent serve to force his mighty rival to the brink of a third set.

Hanescu would falter while serving for the set at 5-3, only to gain an early advantage in the tiebreak to force a deciding set.

Regaining momentum to begin the third set, Federer broke Hanescu’s serve on two occasions to defeat his 6′5″ opponent for the fifth straight time.

A relaxed, and eager to be back to competition Federer spoke with his media after his victory.

“I was happy with the way I played,” he said. “Not having played for so long, I thought it was a good match overall. Missed maybe some of the clutch serving when I really needed it. Let’s say 30-all, deuce I couldn’t really get that one perfect serve I was sometimes looking for, but that’s something that happens.”

Receiving three awards after his victory: The 2009 Player of the Year, ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite Player of the Year, and the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, Federer was grateful to his fans and peers for his awards.

“I’d like to thank the fans for voting for me,” Federer said to the crowd after receiving the Fan Favorite Award for a seventh straight year. “You guys are amazing. Thank you. As you know, you guys make this even more worthwhile traveling around the globe from January to November. I love coming back here, so it’s very nice to get presented the awards here.”

Federer will next face Marcos Baghdatis, who won a marathon first set over Arnaud Clement, before prevailing 7-6 (7), 6-1. The first set between Baghdatis and Clement lasted 90-minutes.

Elsewhere, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick marched into the third-round round with 6-4, 6-4 victories. Murray dismissed Andreas Seppi during the heat of the day session, while Roddick bounced Yen-Hsun Lu under the cool night conditions in Palm Springs.

Murray, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year’s final, told reporters that he wasn’t expecting much from his form on Sunday.

“You’re not necessarily hitting the ball as well as you have been in practice.  You don’t know if it’s tension. You’re just a little bit surprised, maybe.

“But, saying that, when you haven’t played for a long time, you have to expect not to play your best the first match out. I’m sure next round out I’ll feel fine.”

Roddick, who recently endured a right shoulder injury, struck 10 aces while winning 78 percent of his first serve points.

Roddick told reporters that he was happy to survive the onslaught of his talented opponent.

“He was coming out of his shoes on every shot,” said Roddick of Lu’s performance. “So it was more of a, you know, you’re just trying to fight him off a bit.”

“I was really happy the way I returned tonight,” continued the 28-year-old. “I felt like I made a lot of returns, so that put pressure on him, you know, to come up with it.”

Roddick will next face Thiemo De Bakker, while Murray will face Michael Russell.

Other winners on day four action included: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Robin Soderling, and James Blake.

No. 5 seed Nikolay Davydenko was forced to withdraw from the event due to a broken left wrist. Davydenko originally sustained the injury while falling against Soderling during the semifinals of the Rotterdam event in February. Davydenko’s scheduled third-round opponent, Viktor Troicki will receive a walkover into the fourth-round.

Monday’s order of play will feature: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco.

Quotes courtesy of ASAP.

Nadal Believes He Can Recapture His Winning Ways

After defeating Rainer Schuettler in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday, world No. 3 and defending champion Rafael Nadal told reporters that he believes he can recapture his dominance of the sport.

I asked Nadal during his post match presser yesterday how he viewed the current hard-court season, and if he was using it as a springboard for the upcoming clay-court season.

“Every tournament for me is important,” said Nadal. “When I go to a tournament, I only think in that tournament. I never think about the next. I love Indian Wells, I love Miami. I love the clay season.

“But every tournament is really important. Im focused on his one right now.”

Earlier in the week, Nadal addressed his belief that his best tennis is still to come.

“I think my feeling the level is much better now,” said Nadal when referring to his recovery from a recent knee injury. “If I am healthy, just play the tournaments that I have on the schedule, I have good chances.”

Nadal, who plans on playing a full clay-court schedule, said that he might skip the Madrid Masters 1000.

“The only thing what I did, what I changed two times, I didn’t play in Hamburg [now the week of Madrid].  But I really don’t want to change if it’s possible,” said Nadal.

The Mallorcan will face Mario Ancic on Monday in Palm Springs.

Qoutes courtesy of tennis.com, and Matthew Cronin.

Murray Believes Davis Cup Captaincy Should be Decided by Players

Participating in the BNP Paribas Open this week in California, world No. 4 Andy Murray addressed the current Davis Cup woes that the LTA is encountering.

Murray told reporters that in the event that current Davis Cup captain John Lloyd is fired, the players of Great Britain should have a hand in choosing the next captain.

“It’s a difficult one because John won four or five in a row at the start and got us into the World Group with Tim [Henman] coming back, Greg playing, my brother [Jamie] playing good doubles at time and I was playing well — we had a good team,” said Murray at Indian Wells. “It’s the LTA’s decision if they keep him in place but if John does lose his job, the players should have  a strong say in who they think the captain should be and then go to the LTA and say this is who we would like.

“If they don’t want him at least we have voiced our opinion. Then the LTA will have an idea of who we want and come to a decision based on that.  It’s very important that the players are comfortable with who captain is, especially after we lost to Lithuania and how brutal the press has been.  But I’m not going to start throwing names out there.”

Murray also struck out at those who have been criticizing British tennis as a whole. A number of analysts have called for a reorganization of the LTA and other have suggested that heads should roll after Britain lost its fifth consecutive tie.

“Everyone is disappointed,” Murray  said. “It wasn’t one of British tennis’ best days, but we are at a pretty low point and I’m fed up [with] reading negative stuff all the time and constant bashing. They’re needs to be more constructive things with what we need to do to improve as a nation.

“Every time I read something, it’s build more courts and gets more kids too play. I agree, but how are we going to teach them how to play?…We need to have a way of teaching the tennis the same way [like Spain does] and the kids need to learn to play the game properly and they don’t. Everyone has to teach the same way.”

Murray faces Andreas Seppi on Sunday in Palm Springs.

Quotes courtesy of tennis.com, and Matt Cronin.

Harrison Becomes Youngest Winner Since Nadal at Indian Wells

Up-and-coming American Ryan Harrison became the youngest player since Rafael Nadal in 2004 to win a main draw match in Indian Wells.

Harrison, 17, defeated Taylor Dent in straight sets on Thursday, before losing in straight sets to Ivan Ljubicic on Saturday.

Possessing a solid backhand and fluid serve, Harrison’s forehand wing remains his liability.

I was impressed with his level of play and fight against Ljubicic yesterday, and if his forehand can improve there’s no telling how high he can go.

Harrison is currently ranked No. 284 in the world.

Federer Contemplates Calender Slam in 2010

Recovering from a recent lung injury he picked up the week before the Duabi Tennis Championships, world No. 1 Roger Federer told reporters at the BNP Paribas Open earlier this week that he was not ruling out the possibility of winning the calender Grand Slam.

“I can’t prepare in a different way just to win the Grand Slam,” he said. “It’s something that’s going to happen or not. I’ve been a few sets away of doing it, and that’s, for me, is almost good enough already. But I’ll definitely give it another try.

“The preparation for clay will be perfect for the French Open. Wimbledon, it would be perfect if the French wasn’t there, but I’m not going to do what Lendl did, because I’ve been able to win back-to-back French and Wimbledon, so I know I can do it again.  At the U.S. Open, I’ll be well-prepared. I hope physically I’ll hold up. Mentally it’s not going to be a problem.  It’s an exciting year ahead of me.”

Federer takes on Victor Hanescu in his first round match in Indian Wells on Sunday.

Quotes courtesy of tennis.com.

IW: Moya Withdraws Before Second Round Match

Former world No. 1 Carlos Moya was forced to withdraw from his second round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday due to an aggravated foot injury.

Sidelined from the Tour for the greater part of 2009, Moya endured both foot and toe injuries throughout the season.

Seeing his ranking plummet to No. 639 in the world, Moya suffered discomfort in his foot during his first-round win over Tim Smyczek.

Moya’s injury gave No. 26 seed Thomaz Bellucci a walkover into the third round. The Spaniard is currently entered as a wildcard in the upcoming Masters 1000 event in Miami.

Safin Explains Why He Never Played in South America

Making his Seniors Tour debut this week in Rio, Russian Marat Safin told the media that, “it is almost a comedy that I am back in such a short time.”

Excelling on hard-courts throughout this 13-year career, Safin gave reporters an explanation as to why rarely played in South America throughout his career.

“Early on the tour, I learned that it wasn’t interesting for me to play in South America, because here it is too much work and not a lot of money. The tournaments here are ATP 250 and if I come, I play [Fernando] Meligeni in the first round, [Juan Ignacio] Chela or [Gaston] Gaudio in the second, maybe [Gustavo] Kuerten and then I would have spent four or five hours to win each match, would maybe lose in the semis and get a prize money of approximately US$10,000.

“With the taxes and air fares, I would win nothing. That is why I always played in Europe and in the States, on the hard courts that I like better.”

Safin lost to Wayne Ferreira 7-6 (4), 6-4 in his opening match.

Quotes courtesy of www.championsseriestennis.com.

Davydenko Switches to Dunlop Rackets and Apparel

Defeating Ernests Gulbis in straight sets on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open, Russian Nikolay Davydenko was seen sporting a new clothing sponsor.

Previously sponsored by Airness apparel, Davydenko was seen wearing a red Dunlop shirt during his second round Stadium 2 match.

Remaining with his previous Prince 03 racket for the time being, Dunlop racket sports will design a signature racket for the perennial top 10 player.

Davydenko was once quoted as saying that  he would “keep this (Prince) racquet forever,” after winning the Miami Masters 1000 in 2008.

More details on Davydenko’s Dunlop deal to follow.

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