Sport | Tennis
Djokovic crashes out of Indian Wells
Nadal and Murray advance as on-fire Wozniacki beats Zheng to make it to semifinals
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 March 19, 2010
- Image Credit: AFP
- Andy Murray returns a shot to Nicolas Almagro of Spain during the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. Murray won 6-2, 1-0 after Almagro was forced to retire due to a foot injury.
Indian Wells, California: Former champion Novak Djokovic tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Wednesday, upset 7-5 6-3 by big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic in the fourth round.
While holder Rafa Nadal of Spain and fourth-seeded Briton Andy Murray both advanced, second seed Djokovic was eliminated in a match lasting one hour and 44 minutes.
Nadal overcame towering American John Isner 7-5 3-6 6-3 and Murray advanced after Spaniard Nicolas Almagro retired hurt with a left ankle injury while trailing 6-2 1-0.
In the women's draw, Caroline Wozniacki resisted a sizzling baseline display from China's Zheng Jie to reach the semifinals with a hard-fought 6-4 4-6 6-1 victory.
Wozniacki will meet Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who breezed into the last four with a 6-4 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.
World No 2 Djokovic, winner here in 2008, lost his serve in the sixth game of the second set and sent a forehand service return long to hand Ljubicic victory.
Ljubicic, the 20th seed, fired down 13 aces to record only his second win against Djokovic in seven meetings.
Wasted chances
"I had a lot of opportunities and I didn't use many of them," Djokovic said after converting only two of five break point chances.
"My execution was very bad and he played well when he needed to."
Although the 6ft 4in Ljubicic lost serve in the third game of the match, he broke back in the eighth and 12th to take the opening set in just under an hour.
Repeatedly unleashing first serves above 209km an hour, he swept through the second set to book a place in the quarterfinals against 21st seed Juan Monaco of Argentina, who beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6 6-2 6-1 earlier in the day.
"I served well," said Ljubicic, who climbed to a career-high third in the world rankings in 2006.
"My serve helped me, especially in difficult moments. You can't beat Novak only with a serve, but it does help you a lot if you can get a lot of free points off that shot. I was striking the ball nicely, and I felt like I could control the points off the baseline."
Two-time champion Nadal, who beat Murray in last year's final, broke the six-foot-nine Isner in the fourth game of the third set before sealing victory with a forehand winner down the line.
The Spanish left-hander leaned backwards in delight to celebrate his advance to the last eight where he will play Czech Tomas Berdych.
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