David Ferrer will be back in action two days after surviving a thriller when he goes up against Bernard Tomic on Monday in Indian Wells. Kevin Anderson and John Isner are also looking for a place in the fourth round.
(32) Bernard Tomic vs. (8) David Ferrer
With an unbelievable 18-1 record and three titles in 2015, Ferrer was positively on fire heading into the BNP Paribas Open. His fortnight, however, came perilously close to never getting off the ground. An inspired effort by Ivan Dodig on Saturday evening almost knocked Ferrer straight out of Indian Wells, but the No. 8 seed survived 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6) after two hours and 42 minutes.
Although the battle was mentally and physically draining, Ferrer’s fitness is such that he will be good to go for Monday’s third-round date with Tomic. The Spaniard also has to be confident in this matchup. He is 3-0 lifetime against Tomic and 6-1 in total sets after recently prevailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the Acapulco quarters. Also in fine form, the 35th-ranked Australian is 17-6 this year after turning in an awesome performance to see off Borna Coric 6-3, 6-4 in round two. This should be a particularly high-quality affair, but Ferrer is likely to get the best of a majority of baseline rallies–especially on a somewhat slow, high-bouncing surface.
Pick: Ferrer in 3
[polldaddy poll=8727354]
(18) John Isner vs. (16) Kevin Anderson
Isner and Anderson will be squaring off for the 11th time in their careers when the two former college rivals collide again on Monday. The head-to-head series stands at 7-3 in favor of Isner, who is 4-0 in his last four against Anderson and 1-0 in Indian Wells (6-3, 7-5 in the 2010 second round). Two of the four most recent encounters, though, required a third-set tiebreaker.
Anderson will be encouraged by the fact that he has a clear edge in current form. The 17th-ranked South African is 13-6 this season after taking care of Federico Delbonis 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday. Isner is a disappointing 4-5, but he found a different level while crushing Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-4 in the second round. Everyone knows conditions in the desert are perfect for the 6’10” American, who is a former runner-up (2012) and was a semifinalist in 2014. Of course, the conditions are similarly ideal for Anderson.
Pick: Anderson in 3
[polldaddy poll=8727329]
I will go along with the pick of Ferrer in three sets against Tomic. He showed some heart and guts in getting the win off Dodig, who gave him all he could handle.
I have been undecided about Isner and Anderson. However, I am going with Isner in front of the home crowd to get the win in three sets.
I was at that Ferrer-Dodig match last Sat night and it was one of the most intense, hotly contested matches that I’ve EVER seen. Both men got well deserved standing Os 2 or 3X during the 3rd set…their efforts were at the highest professional standard. I’ll take Ferrer in 3 and Isner in 3. Go Dawgs!
same!
Ferru lost to……………Tomic???
Tomic has been awesome
Ferrer grew up on clay, so one might think that he’d prefer slower surfaces, but he recently said that he likes fast hard courts. He says faster courts enable him to more easily past his opponents with flat groundstrokes, and he says that nowadays on clay he has to hit the ball harder in order to enjoy the same advantage the he can get on a hard court.
At Indian Wells, flat groundies hit the court, stop, and fly up into the air, waiting to be attacked.
It seems that even when Ferrer is playing close to the best tennis of his career, as he is in 2015, the Indian Wells conditions are bad for his game.
The tennis channel did not show the Ferrer/Tomic match. All I heard was that Tomic won the first set. That concerned me. But I don’t recall getting any more updates as they were televising other matches.
I assume that Tomic played well to get the win. He’s got a funky game that can present some problems. But Ferrer was fortunate to get past Dodig. That match could have gone either way. They did show us the latter part of that match and it was worth watching! Good stuff! I think that age may be catching up with Ferrer. I know that he’s very fit and fights for every ball, but that may not be enough at this stage of his career.
Ferrer is playing incredible this year. Way better than 2014.
Ricky,
So how did Ferrer lose to Tomic?