Beats Gonzalez in three sets; Isner, li, Radwanska also through to next round
Novak Djokovic defeated Alejandro Gonzalez 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to end the Colombian’s surprising run to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday. Djokovic, a two-time champion at Indian Wells, earned the only two breaks of the third set, including a seven-deuce game that he closed out with a clever backhand drop volley.
Gonzalez had never won an ATP Tour-level match in six tries before Indian Wells. He won third-set tiebreakers in his first two matches here before keeping the world’s second-ranked man on the court for just over 1 1/2 hours. “It took me a little bit to get used to it,” Djokovic said. “You’ve got new faces and new players who are able to challenge the top guys, and this is good for the sport. It also makes us work harder and improve trying to get our game to a high level because the guys are coming up.”
Djokovic had 28 winners to 11 for Gonzalez, who also had 23 unforced errors. Djokovic next plays Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-3.
John Isner, the lone American remaining in the men’s draw, defeated lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round. He fired 13 aces, hit 32 winners and gained the only two breaks of the match. lu managed just nine winners and never had a break point.
Top-seeded woman li Na defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-4, setting up a quarterfinal against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia that will be a rematch of the Australian Open final, which li won in straight sets. li rallied from a 0-3 deficit in the second set, winning six of the final seven games. The last game went to deuce 10 times before li won on her 11th match point when Wozniak’s backhand sailed long.
Jelena Jankovic routed Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals, winning a matchup of former tournament champions and No. 1-ranked players. Jankovic next plays second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat 22nd-seeded Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-3.
Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi failed to build on her upset of defending champion Maria Sharapova, losing to countrywoman Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-1. Pennetta next plays American Sloane Stephens, who beat Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 7-5. American lauren Davis withdrew from her match against qualifier Casey Dellacqua of Australia because of a gastrointestinal illness. In other men’s matches, Fernando Verdasco of Spain beat No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (5), 6-1; and Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6). AP