Feliciano Lopez gave a big surprise on Tuesday (local time) at the ATP-Masters in Indian Wells. The Spaniard won against local hero Jack Sock in three sets and entered the last sixteen in the Californian desert for the fourth time. Juan Martin del Potro, however, did not give his favourite opponent David Ferrer a chance.
Jack Sock was aware that the game against “Feli” Lopez will not be ordinary:”He is an unconventional player”, but the Spaniard also pointed out the dangers of Sock.
“It’s hard to play Jack,”said Lopez before his third round match:”He can beat Winner from anywhere on the course. But I’ve been playing constant tennis for the last five years. You know your game and your opponents better and know what to do.”
In practice, this meant a solid serve and volley game paired with flat strokes and surprising slices that gave Lopez the decisive advantage in a close match.
In the end, he eliminated the best seeded US player of the tournament 7-6 (6), 4-6,6-4 and now face another local hero, Sam Querrey, who won in three sets against Yuki Bhambri of India.
Already in the afternoon Juan Martin Del Potro met for a total of 13. Here’s to David Ferrer. While the Spaniard Ferrer won six of the first eight duels with the tower from Tandil, Del Potro added the fifth consecutive defeat to his opponent with a 6-4,7-6 (3) victory in Indian Wells.
But this victory was by no means a walk in the park: In the first set Del Potro missed ten chances to lose Ferrer’s serve before he used his eleventh opportunity to break 4:3 for the break. In the second round, both players performed their service games with ease, but in the tiebreak the Argentinean showed his best tennis and entered the last sixteen after one hour and 47 minutes.
“I was a bit frustrated by my missed opportunities in the first set,”Del Potro said,”but in the tiebreak, I was clearly the better player. It feels good to be on the court with more and more self-confidence.”
The next opponent Del Potros is a good friend, compatriot Leonardo Mayer, who didn’t allow for a break in his 6-4,6-1 win over Djokovic’s compatriot Taro Daniel,”It’s never easy, it’s a special game for both of us,”Del Potro said,”We train often and we spend a lot of time together. If he catches a good day, he’s a very dangerous opponent.”
Joao Sousa showed another strong performance after his win against Alexander Zverev, but broke in after two narrow sets against Milos Raonic.
The Canadian, who served twelve aces but also ten double-faults, won 7-5,4-6,6-2 and will now face qualifying Marcos Baghdatis. The 32-year-old, who reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells in 2006, is trailing in the head-to-head with Raonic 1:3.
Gael Monfils had to give up in his third round match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert because of a back injury 2-6,1-3. This is the first time in his career that Herbert has reached the round of 16 of an ATP-Masters-1000.
Philipp Kohlschreiber is now waiting for him there, who surprisingly beat Marin Cilic on Tuesday. All men’s round of the last sixteen will be played on Wednesday.
In the meantime, only three men now have the opportunity to cash in the bonus of one million US dollars for a victory in both single and double tournaments. Pablo Cuevas and his partner Horacio Zeballos will meet Sam Querrey and Gilles Müller in the double quarter-finals.
Feliciano Lopez plays with his partner Marc Lopez against Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.