Indian Wells Tennis 2017: Wednesday Scores, Results, Updated Schedule
The BNP Paribas Open created some dream early-round matchups for tennis fans, and those came to fruition Wednesday.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had almost always been a finals battle for most of their careers but they faced each other before the quarterfinals at Indian Wells. Novak Djokovic had a tough matchup with the always dangerous Nick Kyrgios. Other top-10 matchups and major stars were in action throughout the day in California.
Here is what you need to know as the drama continues in one of the top tournaments of the year.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Wednesday Scores
| Men's Singles | |
| (4) Kei Nishikori def. Donald Young | 6-2, 6-4 |
| (21) Pablo Carreno Busta def. Dusan Lajovic | 6-4, 7-6(5) |
| (27) Pablo Cuevas def. (11) David Goffin | 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 |
| (17) Jack Sock def. Malek Jaziri | 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-5 |
| (15) Nick Kyrgios def. (2) Novak Djokovic | 6-4, 7-6(3) |
| (9) Roger Federer def. (5) Rafael Nadal | 6-2, 6-3 |
| (3) Stan Wawrinka def. Yoshihito Nishioka | 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) |
| (10) Gael Monfils vs. (8) Dominic Thiem | |
| Women's Singles | |
| (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova def. (19) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 6-3, 6-2 |
| (3) Karolina Pliskova def. (7) Garbine Muguruza | 7-6(2), 7-6(5) |
Thursday Schedule
| Stadium 1 | |
| (13) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (28) Kristina Mladenovic | 11 a.m. |
| (21) Pablo Carreno Busta vs. (27) Pablo Cuevas | Not before 1 p.m. |
| (12) Venus Williams vs. (14) Elena Vesnina | Not before 5 p.m. |
| (3) Stan Wawrinka vs. Gael Monfils or Dominic Thiem | Not before 7 p.m. |
| Novak Djokovic/Viktor Troicki or Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram vs. Gilles Muller/Sam Querrey | Next |
| Stadium 2 | |
| (1) Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Lucie Safarova vs. (6) Yung-Jan Chan/Martina Hingis | Not before 2:30 p.m. |
| Lucie Hradecka/Katerina Siniakova vs. (2) Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina | Not before 7 p.m. |
Notable Matches
Nick Kyrgios def. Novak Djokovic; 6-4, 7-6(3)
We may have finally found Djokovic's kryptonite as Kyrgios defeated the No. 2 player in the world for the second time this year.
George Bellshaw of Metro UK described just how shocking this performance was:
The defending champion didn't even play that poorly, it was just an outstanding effort from start to finish from the Australian.
Kyrgios came out with better energy and it led to a nearly flawless opening set. He tallied seven aces with zero double faults while winning 6-4, featuring 13-of-15 first-serve victories.
Then again, it wasn't always power that got it done, as seen here from Tennis Channel:
"What a shot from @NickKyrgios!
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 15, 2017"
Watch Kyrgios v Djokovic LIVE now on Tennis Channel! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/0Xy5ovhpuJ
Although the second set was closer, Kyrgios remained nearly unstoppable with his serve and never faced a break point all match. He finished with 14 aces compared to just three for Djokovic, and his defensive work was also better down the stretch.
A 7-3 finish in the tiebreak helped the young player come through with an upset victory and his first quarterfinal appearance at Indian Wells.
Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal; 6-2, 6-3
Wednesday was a throwback to the Federer of old, who came out aggressive against one of his top rivals and never relented.
Patrick McEnroe joked about the performance after the match:
The return game was impressive for the veteran in the first set. He earned two breaks on three opportunities, holding Nadal to just 11-of-18 on first serves.
Howard Bryant of ESPN the Magazine discussed the effort in the early going:
The serve was working for Federer in the second set, which he finished with 16 service points won on 19 opportunities. He had five total aces in the match and only one double fault.
Plenty of things were working for Federer in the win, including an accurate first serve and an impressive backhand that brought him a lot of winners. However, perhaps the biggest difference was his ability to win four of his five break points while defending the only one he faced in the match.
When you can win the big points, it will go a long way toward winning. He will now take on Kyrgios in the quarterfinals.
Stan Wawrinka def. Yoshihito Nishioka; 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)
Compared to other top seeds, Stan Wawrinka seemed like he would have an easy night. This was not the case against Yoshihito Nishioka.
Wawrinka was all over the place in the first set, struggling to get his serve in play. He had two double faults in play and could get points with either his first or second serve. The result was a relatively easy first-set win for Nishioka.
The favorite bounced back in the second set and looked like the No. 3 player in the world, winning 45 percent of his total return points and making everything difficult for his opponent. Nishioka saved seven break chances but still gave up two.
While many though the momentum would be enough to carry him to a win, the Japanese challenger gave everything he got to stay alive. It only ended in a tiebreak with this winning point, via Tennis TV:
Although Wawrinka advanced to the quarterfinals, Nishioka showed a lot in this match and his wins over Tomas Berdych and Ivo Karlovic this tournament.
Karolina Pliskova def. Garbine Muguruza; 7-6(2), 7-6(5)
Although Karolina Pliskova earned a straight-set victory, the almost two-hour match indicated it was a much closer battle than that.
WTA Insider summed up the battle against Garbine Muguruza:
Seemingly every point was a fight, and there were a total of 10 breaks in the two sets, which shows how wild the match really was.
Pliskova got the early advantage with a dominant tiebreak in the first set. She used that momentum to go up again in the second set, having a serve to win the match. However, Muguruza fought back once again to force a tiebreak, which was much closer the second time through.
Still, the higher seed was able to come out on top and advance to the semifinals where she will face Svetlana Kuznetsova.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
