Indian Wells: Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka continued his dominance of Philipp Kohlschreiber, rolling past the German 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to reach the fourth round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.
Wawrinka recorded his fifth victory over Kohlschreiber in as many meetings in a performance that left him cautiously encouraged about his prospects of making it past the quarter-finals in the California desert for the first time.
“It was a really good match,” said Wawrinka, who owns three Grand Slam titles but has won just one of the tour’s coveted Masters titles.
“The first set was not easy, for sure, but in general I’m happy with my game. I was serving well. I think I’m moving better and better and it’s all positive so far.”
A break in each set was enough for Wawrinka, who didn’t face a break point himself as he advanced to a meeting with lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who staged a remarkable rally to get past 13th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
The 21-year-old from Mie saved a match point against his own serve in the 10th game of the second set.
After Nishioka forced the decisive set by winning the tiebreaker, the two traded breaks to open the third before Nishioka broke for a 2-1.
Although Berdych saved one match point in the ninth game, Nishioka closed it out in the next with a love game to reach the fourth round of a Masters tournament for the first time.
Wawrinka is the highest-ranked player remaining in the top half of the draw after world No. 1 Andy Murray’s shock loss to 129th-ranked qualifier Vasek Pospisil in the second round.
With superstars Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all jammed into the bottom quarter of the draw, Wawrinka’s path looks wide open.
But the Swiss said he didn’t think of it that way.
“It’s not like I have been in a lot of semi-finals, finals in Masters 1000,” he said. “So I need to focus on every match.”
Eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem powered into the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Germany’s Mischa Zverev.
Angelique Kerber might yet celebrate her return to No. 1 with a title after battling past Pauline Parmentier 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to reach the fourth round.
Parmentier, the world No. 62 from France, had the two-time Grand Slam champion from Germany on the ropes with a break and a 4-1 lead in the third set.
But Kerber fought back with a break in the seventh game and another in a marathon 11th game that gave her a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the match.
“I think I was starting to believe in myself again and trying to take this challenge and trying to play point by point,” Kerber said of her mindset after going down a break in the deciding set.
Kerber next faces Russian Elena Vesnina, a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 winner over Hungarian Timea Babos. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams booked a fourth-round berth with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Lucie Safarova.
Williams, seeded 12th in her second tournament since a runner-up finish to her sister Serena in the Australian Open in January, had saved three match points en route to a second-round victory over Jelena Jankovic, but needed no heroics against the 40th-ranked Czech.
