Ferrer outlasts Dodig in Indian Wells thriller

Put two tenacious fighters like David Ferrer and Ivan Dodig on the same court at the same time and good things usually happen. They happened again on Saturday evening.

All three of of the previous encounters between the two veterans had gone the three-set distance and their second-round showdown at the BNP Paribas Open went into overtime.

Ferrer came into this week with a shockingly poor 9-11 lifetime singles record at this tournament, six times losing his first match of the tournament. A spirited performance by Dodig almost extended that number to seven. Instead, Ferrer gutted out a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) second-round thriller that lasted two hours and 42 minutes. The eighth-ranked Spaniard steadied himself after failing to serve out the match at 6-5 in the third set and recovered from a 5-3 deficit in the decisive tiebreaker.

With a solid 6-3, 7-5 victory over Joao Sousa already under his belt in Indian Wells while his opponent was making a transition from clay to a hard court, Dodig raced to a fast start. The Croat gave back an early break but seized a second scalp of Ferrer’s serve before closing out the opening frame of play at 5-4.

A routine second set for Ferrer led to a dramatic third. Both men produced their best tennis as 10 consecutive holds resulted in a 5-5 deadlock, at which point they traded service breaks. In the ‘breaker, Dodig twice gave back mini-break advantages–although it was no fault of his own. Ferrer came up with a perfect backhand return at 1-3 and crushed a lunging forehand return at 3-5. Dodig, who had already saved two match points a game earlier, fought off another one at 5-6. At long last, a netted drop-shot by the world No. 96 put an end to the drama.


At least one fellow professional was enthralled by the proceedings.