Thirty-one year old Croatian Ivan Ljubicic did the unthinkable in silencing a heavy pro-Roddick crowd by out-serving America’s top gunslinger. Not that Roddick served poorly, he did not. It’s just that Ljubicic served spectacularly, which he did.
Princess Caroline Wozniacki’s rightful place at the top of women’s tennis will come. On Sunday, former world number one Jalena Jankovic completed a magical week at Indian Wells by serving notice to the pretty Dane the she would have to wait her turn. And, her turn has not yet arrived.
As happens so often in the pivotal third set, he who serves well, wins. The trend happened again twice on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open as 31-year old Ivan Ljubicic staved off a charge from Rafa Nadal and Andy Roddick sealed the deal against Robin Soderling.
Even when Robin Soderling let Andy Murray up for air, the troubled Scotsman could not pull himself together to stave off the inevitable defeat on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open.
Dane 19-year old beauty queen Caroline Wozniacki fought through a tough second set to overcome her good friend, 21-year old Pole, Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-3 in a semifinal BNP Paribas Open pairing.
It is hard to tell if 31-year old Ivan Ljubicic is celebrating his birthday on Friday or celebrating a well-deserved day off as he prepares for his semifinal match with Spanish sharp shooter Rafa Nadal on Saturday. Nadal, fresh off a three set win over John Isner, withstood a late charge by the 19th seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-6 (4) to win his 20th of 21 matches at Indian Wells. The defending champion looks healthy and fleet afoot.
Jalena Jankovic, whose career has been sliding backwards for the past 12 months will clash with Samantha Stosur, whose career has turned dramatically upwards in the semifinals of the 2010 BNP Paribas Open. The winner of the upper bracket will move on to face the winner of the lower bracket match between 5th seeded Aggie Radwanska and number two seed Caroline Wozniacki in the finals.
If you like predictable, you would not like what’s happening at Indian Wells this year. The California Desert has become the upset capital of the world. The trend continued on Wednesday as number 2 seed, Novak Djokovic joined top seeded Roger Federer in the peanut gallery for the remainder of the week.
Top remaining seed, Princess Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark is doing her best to uphold the integrity of tennis royalty at Indian Wells. It is full time job, which some of the top seeds and former world number ones, now struggling beauty queens, do not understand. The 19-year old has now finished two consecutive tight matches with convincing third set wins.
In one of the finest wins of his resurgent career, Cypriot Marcos Bagdhatis fought off three match points to send shock waves through the field at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open. Bagdhatis has been in terrific form of late, taking Novak Djokovic to three sets in the Dubai. This time, he held his game together to register a most impressive 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over the World’s Number One and tournament favorite Roger Federer.
