Who know who I'm really liking in this tournament? Well, Federer, obviously, and the scariness of Nadal is also good to watch, but the random that I'm liking so far in Indian Wells is the elder statesman, Ivan Ljubicic.
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It seems strange to refer to Ivan as a random, considering that it wasn't so long ago that he was #3 in the world. But a lot has happened in tennis since then. The Hispano-Suisse domination machine has rolled unstoppably on, but we've seen the rise of Djokovic and Murray and the formation of the Fabulous Four. Ivan fell out of the top ten and then down out of Grand Slam seedings without anyone really noticing.
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But the fact is that he's got some serious game. I don't know if his serve is as powerful as it used to be, but I've always enjoyed watching Ivan play. And he had a really good win over Gilles Simon yesterday - who I am not finding especially impressive at the moment. I'm not sure how he got to #6 or whatever it is in the world, but it seems like it might have been a fluke... he was certainly running hot at the end of last year, but he's cooled right off. So it'll be interesting to watch how he progresses from here - and how Ivan Ljubicic does this tournament.
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Roger Federer rolled on, making relatively easy work of Ivo Karlovic, when you consider the weapons that Karlovic has. And my bracket is shot now, because the random semi-finalist I picked - Marin Cilic - went out to Robredo. Though maybe I should have picked Robredo, given his current form - nice to see that he's been able to do it on just about any court surface he's been handed this year. I'm still picking him to be a semifinalist at Roland Garros - not backing off on that one!
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It seems strange to refer to Ivan as a random, considering that it wasn't so long ago that he was #3 in the world. But a lot has happened in tennis since then. The Hispano-Suisse domination machine has rolled unstoppably on, but we've seen the rise of Djokovic and Murray and the formation of the Fabulous Four. Ivan fell out of the top ten and then down out of Grand Slam seedings without anyone really noticing.
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But the fact is that he's got some serious game. I don't know if his serve is as powerful as it used to be, but I've always enjoyed watching Ivan play. And he had a really good win over Gilles Simon yesterday - who I am not finding especially impressive at the moment. I'm not sure how he got to #6 or whatever it is in the world, but it seems like it might have been a fluke... he was certainly running hot at the end of last year, but he's cooled right off. So it'll be interesting to watch how he progresses from here - and how Ivan Ljubicic does this tournament.
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Roger Federer rolled on, making relatively easy work of Ivo Karlovic, when you consider the weapons that Karlovic has. And my bracket is shot now, because the random semi-finalist I picked - Marin Cilic - went out to Robredo. Though maybe I should have picked Robredo, given his current form - nice to see that he's been able to do it on just about any court surface he's been handed this year. I'm still picking him to be a semifinalist at Roland Garros - not backing off on that one!
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Today's Results
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BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells)
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Men's Draw
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Roger Federer def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3
Ivan Ljubicic def. Gilles Simon, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Fernando Verdasco def. Richard Gasquet, 6-3 6-2
Igor Andreev def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-5 6-4
Fernando Gonzalez def. James Blake, 7-5 6-1
Tommy Robredo def. Marin Cilic, 7-5 7-6 (7-2)
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Women's Draw
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Vera Zvonareva def. Li Na, 6-4 6-4
Caroline Wozniacki def. Urszula Radwanska, 7-5 6-3
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