First Served

I'm going to get onto the match of yesterday, which was obviously Nadal and Nalbandian, in a minute, but I just want to gloat a bit first. Thank you, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, for making me look good and like an insightful tennis commentator instead of an uneducated rambler. She's just knocked off another big name - Agnieszka Radwanska - in the quarters and is now in the semis. How 'bout that kid, eh? Yes, Anastasia - that's all I have to say about that.

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Think of how clever I would look if she won...

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Though speaking of women's tennis... Dinara, Dinara, Dinara. She got pretty much eaten by Victoria Azarenka yesterday, and it was just not nice. Now the only big big name left in the tournament is Ana Ivanovic, and we all know her current level of reliability. That said, I have picked her to win the tournament... but who knows what'll happen with her, really? Personally, I'm pulling for young Anastasia, but it'd be good to see Ana defend her title.

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Now, Rafa and Dave. Wasn't this a good match? I didn't actually see it, but even just following it on livescores was a nailbiter. Rafa made a gargantuan effort to win the second set breaker and then roared away with a bagel in the third. Maybe that was when it clicked in his head the way to play Nalbandian? Or maybe LameDave just shows up. Who knows?

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One thing I did notice is that Nalbandian made significant inroads on the Nadal first serve, if one is to judge by the stats - that's where the difference lay. Nadal only won 63% of points on his first serve, but that's for the whole match: in the first set, the set that Nalbandian won, he was only winning 40% of points there. This obviously picked up over the course of the match, but still, intriguing...

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And Federer had a nice shiny victory over Gonzalez in three. Solid.

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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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Rafael Nadal def. David Nalbandian, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0

Roger Federer def. Fernando Gonzalez, 6-3 5-7 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6)

Andy Murray def. Tommy Robredo, 6-2 3-0 retired

Juan Martin del Potro def. John Isner, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3)

Andy Roddick def. David Ferrer, 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4 3-6 6-1

Ivan Ljubicic def. Igor Andreev, 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4)

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Sybille Bammer, walkover

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4