Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic cruised into the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Wednesday after Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka both fell in the fourth round.
In a tournament full of surprises, Federer and Djokovic struck a blow for the old world order with Federer beating Germany’s Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-4 and Djokovic coming back to down Croatia’s Marin Cilic 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Federer and Djokovic are the only players ranked in the world’s top 10 to reach the quarterfinals after Wawrinka and Murray joined the big-name casualties when they both crashed to lower-ranked opponents on another day of upsets in the Californian desert.
Wawrinka suffered his first loss this year when his 13-match winning streak came to a shuddering halt as he was beaten 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1 by South African Kevin Anderson.
Murray was blown away by Canada’s Milos Raonic, one of the biggest servers in men’s tennis.
Despite winning the first set, the Scotsman was unable to contain the raw power of Raonic, who triumphed 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in a little over two hours.
Raonic’s next opponent in the quarterfinals will be Ukrainian giant-killer Alexandr Dolgopolov, who followed up his upset victory over Rafael Nadal on Monday with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-4 drubbing of Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
In the women’s draw, second seed Agnieszka Radwanska booked her spot in the semifinals after a two-and-a-half hour slugfest with Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek went down fighting to Swiss duo of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka in the men’s doubles quarterfinals.
The unseeded Swiss stars needed a super tie-breaker to beat the fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair 3-6, 7-6 (6), 4-10 in an hour and 19 minutes battle.
Sania-Black duo advances
India’s Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black knocked out second seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to enter the semifinals of the women’s doubles.
Fifth seeded Mirza and Black won 6-4, 6-1. Czech Lucie Hradecka and China’s Jie Zheng defeated Kveta Peschke and Katerina Srebotnik in a hard-fought quarterfinal 7-5, 5-7, 10-3.
The results:
Men: Fourth round: Alexandr Dolgopolov bt Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4; Milos Raonic bt Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Kevin Anderson bt Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1; Roger Federer bt Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-4; John Isner bt Fernando Verdasco 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3; Ernests Gulbis bt Roberto Bautista 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-2; Julien Benneteau bt Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6(4); Novak Djokovic bt Marin Cilic 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Women: Quarterfinals: Simona Halep bt Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-2; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
Quarterfinal line-up
Raonic vs Dolgopolov
Federer vs Anderson
Djokovic vs Benneteau
Isner vs Gulbis
