Indian Wells 2014: Murray and Federer fight into fourth round

Four of the remaining top five players in the Indian Wells draw packed Monday’s top-notch schedule in the magnificent oasis in the Californian desert.

The two most prolific winners of this tournament followed one another onto the Centre Court, with four-time champion Roger Federer taking on No27 seed Dmitry Tursunov before top seed and three-time and defending champion took on the No28 seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov.

On the new and perfectly-formed No2 court, Stanislas Wawrinka, took on No29 seed Andreas Seppi, but the action began with the only one of the big quartet not to face a seed. Andy Murray, though, would take on a formidable newcomer, the 20-year-old 6ft 6in ‘ATP Star of Tomorrow’, Jiri Vesely.

It was a line-up, then, to keep the tennis faithful more than happy, yet there was still more talent on show. Nine of the 16 players had appeared in at least one tour final this year. Along with Rafael Nadal, Wawrinka and Federer, they included Fabio Fognini, winner in Vina del Mar, Gael Monfils, the Montpellier titlist, Kei Nishikori, winner in Memphis, Kevin Anderson, twice a finalist, along with Tommy Haas and Dolgopolov who had reached a final apiece.

But it was the first match of the day that intrigued the most, not for its high quality—the level blew too hot and cold for that—but for the back-and-forth drama of it.

Vesely, ranked 77, and at 20 years old the youngest player in the top 100, made the fifth-biggest jump from the start of 2013 to 2014, climbing 176 places. Now playing in his first ever Masters, he had scored his first back-to-back wins on the main tour, beating Igor Sijsling and No32 seed Pablo Andujar.

Murray, making solid progress back to full fitness after missing the last three months of 2013 due to back surgery, had survived a real test in his three-set opener, but he hit the ground running this time.

He elected to receive serve against the tall, left-handed Czech man, relishing perhaps taking on the swinging serve to his double-handed backhand. Certainly on paper, Murray had little to fear from a left-handed opponent, often the bane of the right-handed tennis player’s life. Murray had lost only 16 matches from 69 against lefties—and 13 of those were to Nadal.

The ploy worked straight away, and Murray broke the young player’s opening serve. He was quickly into his easy baseline rhythm and testing the Vesely movement.

Murray held to love, and then bamboozled his opponent with masses of spin. Vesely tried attacking the net but to no avail. Murray broke again for 3-0. It was unexpected, then, to see him fire a couple of forehands wide and offer up two break-back points. An ill-conceived drop shot, and Vesely had broken back.

Vesely’s main problem was his poor first-serve percentage—barely a third hitting their mark—but gradually he improved and settled into some impressive baseline exchanges interspersed with drop shots. He came close to breaking Murray in the sixth game but struggled to maintain the pressure, largely due to that serving inconsistency. It took him 10 minutes to hold—and then he took an extended medical time out to treat a nasty blister on the ball of his foot.

So Murray had the chance to serve out the set, but his own first delivery fell apart, and a double fault offered up break point: Vesely took the break, 5-5.

Both players looked increasingly edgy as they headed to a tie-break, but it was the youngster, mature beyond his years, who kept things tight, and Murray began to make errors—including a double fault to go 2-4: He did not win another point and was a set down

The 20-year-old continued to show great composure to break a ragged Murray in the opening game of the second. The question was, could Vesely maintain the pressure? It seemed not: Murray broke to level at 3-3.

This was still inconsistent tennis, as both fought to maintain 50 per cent of first serve deliveries. Both broke again, but finally Murray served out the set, 6-4, after almost two hours of grinding work.

It wasn’t just the start of the match that was frustrating: The whole match was

Andy Murray

The third set began with more of the same—three straight breaks—but this time Vesely got the first hold. He sustained his advantage until the seventh game but Murray broke at the crucial moment and held for a 5-4 advantage. The young Czech could resist no longer and Murray edged his second tight win of the tournament, 6-4.

It had been far from pretty but it proved that Murray’s fitness is sound, even if he is not yet back to his match-playing best. He was pleased to have survived if not happy with this tennis:

“It was just one of those matches where there wasn’t one period where I thought that the level of tennis from both of us was high at the same time. That can create a lot of breaks and a lot of back and forth swings in the match. It wasn’t just the start of the match that was frustrating: The whole match was.”

The tennis being played simultaneously on Centre Court was, in contrast, very pretty. Federer and Tursunov played out a high-pace, high-quality match of attacking tennis that boasted some glorious shot-making and all-court skills.

Federer got a quick break, but gradually the gritty Tursunov upped his level, forcing Federer to defend at the limits of the court. The Swiss maintained his edge to serve for the set, only for the Russian to turn on some cracking returns of serve and break.

Tursunov then serve-and-volleyed his way to a tie-break: They stood at 32 points apiece, and still nothing separated them as they edged to 7-7. All at once, though, Federer made a bold drop-shot winner followed by a cross-court passing winner for the set.

The second set produced more of the same, though this time Tursunov broke first with some inventive attacking play, only to see Federer reply in equal measure for a love break back. It would finally take another tie-break to separate them, and Federer’s 2014 form finally told. A couple aces, a serve-and-volley winner, and a ripping return of serve snatched the set, 7-2.

Federer may have preferred less than the hour and three-quarters it took to seal the win, particularly with a doubles match scheduled for later in the day. Nevertheless this match tested him physically and mentally, and he withstood the pressure in some style.

His next test will be no easier, either old friend and No12 seed Haas, who won the first set in both their meetings last year, or the light-footed No21 Nishikori who beat him in three sets in Madrid last year.