Richard Gasquet and Kevin Anderson roll into the Indian Wells fourth round on Monday. They are joined there by Gilles Simon, who won a wild, all-French affair against Benoit Paire.
(10) Richard Gasquet d. (24) Jerzy Janowicz 6-1, 6-4
Gasquet maintained his fine form by defeating Janowicz after one hour and five minutes in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday afternoon. The Frenchman came out firing and raced to 5-0 advantage in the opening set with two breaks of an opponent who generally takes care of his serve with ease. Janowicz finally got on the scoreboard for 1-5, but Gasquet closed it out with a routine hold one game later. Gasquet did not lose a single first-serve point in the first set.
It was all but over for Janowicz when he donated serve again at 3-3 in the second. The 24th-ranked Pole had two chances to break earlier in the set, but he did not get a real look in Gasquet’s last two service games. A final hold for the world No. 10–his ninth in nine tries–at 5-4 wrapped up the proceedings. With the win, Gasquet improved to 17-3 for his 2013 campaign. He will hope to continue his hot streak against Tomas Berdych with a place in the quarterfinals at stake. Berdych dismissed Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-1 during third-round action.
Kevin Anderson d. Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-1
Anderson followed up his upset of David Ferrer by crushing Nieminen in exactly one hour on Monday. The world No. 37, now 12-3 for the season, held all eight of his service games while saving one break point.
This clash was one-way traffic the whole time, as Anderson took control with a break for 2-1 in the first set. He added another scalp of the Nieminen serve at 5-3 to close out the opener in style. The Finn, who had destroyed Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-1 in the second round, was even more hopeless in the second. Anderson dropped only one game and he finished off the proceedings with his fifth ace. Next up for the 6’8” South African is Gilles Simon.
(13) Gilles Simon d. Benoit Paire 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4
Simon came back from the brink of defeat to in an error-fest against Paire on Monday night in Indian Wells. This one featured a slew of service breaks right from the start, including five total in the first set. Paire’s three scalps of the Simon serve managed to be enough, as the 40th-ranked Frenchman somehow closed out the opener on his racket at 5-3. Breaks were even more plentiful in the second–eight to be exact. Paire even served for the match, but it could not have come as a surprise when Simon broke and ultimately forced a tiebreaker.
Momentum swings were not quite finished. In fact, a mere two points were won on serve the entire ‘breaker. Paire had victory well within his sight serving at 5-4 only to drop to consecutive service points. Simon finished off the set at 6-5 with a rare moment of brilliance by coming up with a running backhand pass. The trend ended in the decider, as Simon’s immediate break for 1-0 stood up the whole way. The world No. 13 saved two break points to consolidate his lead and he wrapped up the affair with a convincing hold at 5-4. Paire recorded a shocking 79 unforced errors over the course of two hours and 15 minutes.
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