Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open: Djokovic, Dementieva Out

by Yuliya Talmazan | March 18, 2010 at 10:54 am

267 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

Djokovic, Dementieva Take Exit

BNP Paribas Open saw more action in Indian Wells today. Men battled it out for a trip to quarterfinals. In unexpected upsets, Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France are out. No. 2 seeded 2008 champion Djokovic was defeated by No. 20 Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic. Djokovic complained of fatigue after David Cup, saying it got in the way of his game in Indian Wells. Djokovic's team advanced into quarterfinals of Davis Cup, which will take place in July of this year.

Twenty-four-year-old Tsonga though went out in the match with higher seeded Robin Bo Carl Soderling of Sweden. Both Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are through. While Nadal laboured past USA's John Isner in three sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, Murray had two play only two sets. His opponent Nicolas Almagro of Spain had to retire in the third set with an ankle injury. The same happened to Murray when Rafael Nadal had to pull out from from the quarterfinal at the Australian Open earlier this year with just two sets down. Nadal suffered a knee injury during the match and could not continue. Nadal won BNP Paribas in 2007 and 2009. Murray was runner-up to Nadal last year.

Andy Roddick of USA has also advanced, making California crowds happy.

On women's side, Elena Dementieva of Russia went out against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in just two sets, having trouble with footwork. By her own admission, Dementieva played a "slow" game.

"She slowed down the game a lot and mixed it up a lot. You have to be very aggressive. You have to step forward. You have to create something. I was way too slow."

Jie Zheng of China put up a good battle against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who is the youngest player left in the tournament at 19 years of age. Radwanska did not drop a single set in the four matches that she played at Indian Wells so far. She looks particularly strong and will face Wozniacki in he semifinals. None of the women who have ever won or came second at Indian wells are left in the competition.