Roger Federer wasted no time in booking his spot in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday evening. In a battle of veteran players on the ATP World Tour, 35-year-old Federer raced past 36-year-old Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1 in just 51 minutes.

“Very happy. The knee is a thing of the past, which is great. I don’t even have to think or talk about it. So I thought the match went really well,” said Federer. “I’m very pleased with how it went. And moving on to the next round, it’s going to be a different matchup, so I’ve got to adjust again.”

Despite the scoreline, Federer was full of praise for Robert playing some of the best tennis of his career at age 36. 

“I admire those guys who make the breakthrough later on and find a way and not lose love for the game early,” said Federer. “It’s nice to see him do well now and beginning to play against great players on the big courts. That’s been so motivational for those guys to keep going. All of a sudden, age just becomes a number.”

The Swiss star was in fine form, winning 71 per cent of his service points and converting all five of his break point chances. Victory takes Federer to a 53-11 mark at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where he has lifted the trophy four times, most recently in 2014 (d. Djokovic).

After being sidelined for the second half of the 2016 season, Federer made a remarkable comeback at the start of this year, beating Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal in back-to-back five-set tussles to clinch his 18th Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open.

There was a surprise for Federer last week, though, in his second tour-level tournament of the year in Dubai, where he was upset by Evgeny Donskoy in the second round. The Basel native looks to bounce back this week, but finds himself in the toughest quarter of the draw, alongside Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Federer goes on to face 24^th seed Steve Johnson, who edged Kevin Anderson 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and 14 minutes. Federer leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Johnson 1-0, defeating the American in straight-sets last year at Wimbledon.

Two more Americans were in action on Sunday evening. #NextGenATP player Taylor Fritz recorded the biggest win of his young career as he upset sixth seed Marin Cilic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes.

Cilic led 6-4, 3-1, but Fritz fought back to level the match. The 19-year-old American could not close it out as he served for the match at 5-3 in the decider, but regrouped to break Cilic in the next game, leaving the court victorious as the crowd chanted his name.

“It was amazing,” Fritz said of his first win over a Top 10 player. “Just the whole experience with the crowd, how I came back in the match, it’s just, words can’t describe it, really.

“I thought the main thing today was how I returned serve. I thought I returned much better than normal.

“I don’t think it’s the strongest parts of my game. I thought I did a really good job of returning one of the best servers in the game throughout that match. Also, I thought I did a pretty good job of competing and kind of just sticking in the match and staying solid.”

Fritz, a native of Rancho Santa Fe, goes on to face Malek Jaziri as he bids to post his best run at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. 

Jack Sock recovered from a second-set disaster to defeat Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes. The Nebraska native broke decisively in the ninth game of the decider as he set a third-round clash with Grigor Dimitrov.

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Kontinen/Peers Extend Masters 1000 Win Streak

Henri Kontinen and John Peers extended their dominant run in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, downing Fabrice Martin and Lucas Pouille 7-6(4), 6-4 at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday. The Finnish-Aussie tandem have now won six straight matches at the Masters 1000 level, following their maiden triumph in Paris last year. 

Overall, Kontinen and Peers are an impressive 19-2 since late October, having also lifted the trophy at the ATP Finals to cap 2016 and the Australian Open to open 2017. The third seeds will face German brothers Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram set a meeting with Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic after holding off Benoit Paire and Michael Venus 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 in one hour and 17 minutes. Runners-up a year ago in Miami, Klaasen and Ram converted two of four break chances.

The third doubles match of the day ended in a brisk 58 minutes, as Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo moved past Paolo Lorenzi and Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-1. 

In an all-Argentine clash, Juan Martin del Potro advanced to the BNP Paribas Open third round with 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Federico Delbonis on Sunday in Indian Wells. After hitting a hot shot tweener-lob winner in the early stages, del Potro fended off set point at 30/40 in the 10th game before sealing the opener in the ensuing tie-break.

“It has been a great year for me. Last season, I played even better than what I expected with my injuries. I’m looking forward to keep going up the rankings this year, trying to get closer to the top guys,” said del Potro. “If I stay healthy and play at the same level as last year, I think I will be close to that goal.”

The Tandil native claimed the only break of the match in the fourth game of the second set to prevail in one hour and 51 minutes. The 28-year-old del Potro is playing just his third tournament of the season after taking time at the start of the year to work more on his fitness.

The 31st seed has found the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to be a happy hunting ground in recent years, reaching the final in 2013 and the semifinals in 2011 (l. to Nadal both times). Next up for del Potro will be either Novak Djokovic, whom he lost to in the Acapulco second round last week, or Kyle Edmund.

A LOOK BACK

Cachantun Open (Santiago, Chile): Top seed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil continues his success in clay-court Challengers with a 7-5, 6-3 over wild card and local favourite Nicolas Jarry. The 33-year-old now has nine Challenger titles, eight of which have come on clay. He has won at least one Challenger every year since 2011.

Jarry drops to 0-2 in Challenger finals this year, having also finished runner-up in his previous event in Morelos, Mexico. (l. Bublik)

Zhuhai Open (Zhuhai, China): Top seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia lived up to his billing by defeating seventh seed and defending champion Thomas Fabbiano of Italy, 6-3, 6-4. Fresh off his victory over Roger Federer at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Donskoy won the last 10 sets he played in Zhuhai. He picks up his 10^th Challenger title and first since winning last July in Astana, Kazakhstan.

A LOOK AHEAD

There are four Challengers on the schedule this week, with the $150,000 event in Irving, Texas, taking top billing as it returns for the sixth straight year. Several top 50 players are scheduled to compete including defending champion Marcel Granollers of Spain, Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Daniel Evans of Great Britain.

The $75,000 event in Drummondville, Canada, is back for the third consecutive year. Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic is the top seed and local favourite Peter Polansky is the second seed. #NextGenATP player Quentin Halys of France is the third seed. Promising Canadian teenagers Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime are also in the draw, in addition to last year’s runner-up Edward Corrie of Great Britain.

The $75,000 tournament in Shenzhen, China, also returns for the fourth straight year. Donskoy looks for another big week in China as the top seed and Yuichi Sugita of Japan is the second seed. #NextGenATP player Duckhee Lee of Korea is the fourth seed, while last year’s runner-up and local favourite Di Wu also features in the main draw.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, also plays host to a new $50,000 Challenger on hard-courts. Local favourite Carlos Berlocq is the top seed and Dutra Silva aims for another successful week as the second seed. Jarry is also in the draw as he aims for his first Challenger title.

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With on-court temperatures touching 120 degrees, Rafael Nadal stayed cool in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Guido Pella in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Pella got off to a hot start, breaking Nadal in the third game of their first meeting. But the fifth-seeded Spaniard settled in and reeled off six of the next seven games to clinch the opener and break at the start of the second set. Pella halted Nadal’s momentum by canceling out the break in the second game, but the Spaniard regained his lead in the fifth game and would win the last five games as he closed out victory in one hour and 21 minutes.

“It was a solid match,” said Nadal. “It was a first-round match where I didn’t try to do amazing things. I tried to play solid. I tried to find the rhythm and I think I did. For moments I played well, for moments I played a little bit less well. The important thing is I won and I won in straight sets. I had some good feelings for a lot of moments. In general terms, I think I played a solid match.

“I adapt myself better to the dry heat than to the humid heat. I think it’s easier for the players to resist that conditions than when it’s very, very humid. But it’s true that today was hot and there was a lot of sun out there. It was difficult to control the ball. The ball was flying a lot.”

Nadal is coming off a runner-up showing in Acapulco (l. to Querrey), which marked his first outing since an epic five-set final with Roger Federer at the Australian Open. The Mallorcan has won three of his 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in the desert, compiling a 49-9 tournament record. He lifted the trophy in 2007, 2009 and 2013.

The 30-year-old Nadal finds himself in the ‘group of death’ section of the draw, with the prospect of facing Federer again in the fourth round. For now, the left-hander advances to a meeting with either Pierre-Hugues Herbert or Fernando Verdasco.

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Grigor Dimitrov has been one of the hot players at the start of the year and he showed no sign of letting up as he powered through his second-round match with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Mikhail Youzhny in 70 minutes.

The Bulgarian stated his intent in January by winning the title in Brisbane before reaching his second Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. He then won his hometown title in Sofia the following week.

The 25 year old, who works with Dani Vallverdu, will look to get past the third round in the desert for the first time when he faces either Jack Sock or Henri Laaksonen.

• Three of the biggest superstars on the ATP World Tour are on Sunday’s schedule at the BNP Paribas Open with No. 2 seed/five-time champion Novak Djokovic, three-time winner/No. 5 seed Rafael Nadal and four-time title holder/No. 9 seed Roger Federer. They have won 12 of the last 13 BNP Paribas Open titles. But this year the trio are in the bottom quarter of the draw and only one of the former champions could reach the semi-finals.

• The trio have combined to win 82 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles and 44 Grand Slam championships while finishing No. 1 in 12 of the last 13 years (except 2016). Overall, they have combined to capture 225 singles titles.

• In the first match on Stadium 1, British No. 2 Daniel Evans and No. 4 seed Kei Nishikori meet for the third time (tied 1-1). Just two and a-half months into 2017, Evans has already surpassed last year’s match wins total (9) with a 10-4 record. He is also trying to earn his third Top 10 win of the season. He is ranked a career-high No. 41. Nishikori reached the quarter-finals here last season and the 27-year-old Japanese star has finished in the Top 10 the past three years.

• In the next match on, Nadal takes on Argentine left-hander Guido Pella for the first time. Nadal is coming off a runner-up in Acapulco (l. to Querrey) on March 4 and he’s trying to capture his first title on hard courts since 2014 Doha. He’s played in 30 hard court tournaments since then. Pella is looking to reach the 3R for the second straight year. He is 1-4 lifetime against Top 10 foes.

• In the final day session match, British No.3 Kyle Edmund squares off with Djokovic, who won both previous meetings last year in straight sets (ATP Masters 1000 Miami, US Open). Djokovic enters the first ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season with five titles and a 17-match winning streak at Indian Wells. His last loss came in the 2013 semi-finals to Juan Martin del Potro, a possible 3R opponent. Edmund is trying to earn his first career Top 10 victory (0-8).

• In the evening session, Federer plays 36-year-old Frenchman Stephane Robert for the first time. Federer returns to Indian Wells after missing last year with a knee injury. The Swiss recovered from his knee injury and knocked off Nadal in the Australian Open final to became the oldest Grand Slam champion (35) since Ken Rosewall at the 1972 Australian Open and the lowest-ranked major champion (No. 17) since Gaston Gaudio at 2004 Roland Garros. Robert is 1-8 against Top 10 foes.

• On Stadium 2, No. 12 seed Grigor Dimitrov (vs. Mikhail Youzhny) is the first men’s match on followed by No. 31 del Potro (vs. Federico Delbonis) and No. 17/top American Jack Sock (vs. Henri Laaksonen).

On Stadium 3, No. 18 seed and #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev (vs.Facundo Bagnis) is the first match on. Americans No. 23 seed Sam Querrey (vs. Donald Young) are third on, followed by No. 24 Steve Johnson (vs. Kevin Anderson) and No. 6 Marin Cilic (vs. Taylor Fritz).

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Watch your favourite players work on their games by taking in a live stream at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Andy Murray was left to ponder a shocking loss against qualifier Vasek Pospisil on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open, but insists he doesn’t have a serve-and-volley problem.

After Mischa Zverev used that tactic to perfection in defeating the World No. 1 last month at the Australian Open, Pospisil utilised the same strategy on Stadium 1 in Indian Wells. But while Murray had trouble with the Canadian’s charges toward the net, he said there were bigger issues that he struggled to handle throughout the match.

“I have never really practiced playing against serve-and-volleyers in my career. But when I have come up against them, it’s normally been a game style I have enjoyed playing against,” said Murray. “Today it wasn’t so much the serve/volley that was the problem. It was my own serve, not getting enough opportunities when he was serving. I think that was more the problem tonight.”

The Indian Wells crowd naturally began to rally behind the qualifier in the second set as they sensed the potential for a major upset. The World No. 1 said the largely pro-Pospisil crowd didn’t rattle him and that he was appreciative they cheered for good tennis from both players.

“It was a really good atmosphere at the end. It was pretty much a full crowd after the first 15, 20 minutes, so it was a nice atmosphere,” said Murray. “Especially the way he was playing, I think the crowds like him. The guy was being aggressive and he came out with some fantastic shots as well. So they really got into it.”

Although serve-and-volley players are less common now in singles than in previous generations, Murray said the Canadian proved that the tactic isn’t a dying art form.

I don’t think loads of players are taught it now growing up. It’s not something that’s practiced a lot. But if there are guys that do it from a young age, it’s definitely a game style that can be successful,” said Murray. “Obviously in certain conditions or court surfaces it’s easier to do it, like on grass and quicker hard courts. But there is no reason why, if you play that game style well, you can’t be effective doing it at the top of the game.”

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