Roger Federer crushed Croatian Dodig 6-3, 6-1 in a third round rout at the Indian Wells Masters on a turbulent day marked by a magnitude-4.7 earthquake that shook the Californian desert.
“I’m not too worried,” Federer said. “I’ve gone through it so many times where you feel a little tweak. You might play next day; now this time around, I have a day off, extra time.
“It’s happened during Grand Slams, during tournaments, in practise. It’s just something you learn to deal with.” Like the rest of the tennis world at Indian Wells, Federer felt the earthquake and confessed — as did Rafael Nadal — to being uneasy amid the 10 seconds of ground shaking.
“For the first few seconds, I wasn’t sure what was happening,” he said. “I ran outside.
“It was a very strange feeling to have because you see the windows shaking. ... It was quite scary for a second there.”
Nadal, who advanced with a walkover as Leonardo Mayer quit before their match with a back problem, was also unnerved by one of the geological facts of life in the region.
“I was very scared, first time in my life” for an earthquake, he said. “I was on the massage table preparing for my warm-up. ... My legs were shaking.”
Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych advanced over German Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-1.
Two French seeds went through as number 10 seed Richard Gasquet defeated Pole Jerzey Janowicz 6-1, 6-4 and number 13 Gilles Simon overcame compatriot Benoit Paire 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in a break-marred victory.
In the women’s draw, fourth seed Angelique Kerber fought past Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) while Samantha Stosur beat Peng Shuai 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and former number one Caroline Wozniacki put out Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-1.
Russian 10th seed Nadia Petrova beat Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-2. Germany’s Mona Barthel dismissed 11th seed Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.
