• BNP Paribas Open

Murray clinical in destruction of Russell at Indian Wells

ESPN staff
March 16, 2010
Andy Murray had to rely on his baseline prowess against Michael Russell © Getty Images
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Tuesday's tennis gallery

Andy Murray showed a clinical side to his game as he wasted little time in defeating Michael Russell 6-3 7-5 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Murray will know he can play far better than he did on Tuesday against Russell, who is ranked No. 68 in the world. However, the British number one only dropped his serve once in the entire match despite a below-par performance, securing four breaks of his own to get the job done.

Murray's serve has failed to fire so far in the competition and he was made to fight harder than he would have liked again in round three, finding his range with just 40 per cent of first serves in the opening set. As a result, the Scot had to save break points on three occasions despite clearly holding the edge over his opponent.

Fortunately for Murray, he had a lead to defend from the very first game after breaking Russell's opening service game, and he maintained that advantage until 5-3 in the first set. Like all top players, Murray then sensed the moment to ram home his advantage, breaking for a second time to claim the set 6-3 and lead the serve in the second.

The world No. 4 continued to serve poorly but ooze class in open play in the second set, forcing Russell to chase from the outset after an early break. Murray's aces count rose to seven as he allowed the American just a solitary break when serving for the match, and he quickly rectified that one aberration by breaking Russell to clinch victory.

Roger Federer is out of the tournament, the world's premier player going down in an absolute classic against Marcos Baghdatis. The two hour, 22 minute marathon featured three match points for Federer before Baghdatis claimed the decisive tie-break to clinch a 5-7 7-5 7-6(4) victory.

The often-erratic Baghdatis is capable of collapsing against weak opposition but he's also able to match it with any player when at his best, as was the occasion as he lifted to Federer's lofty levels to create a brilliant advertisement for the sport.

Roger Federer was drawn to meet Andy Murray in the semi-finals © Getty Images
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As he so often does, Federer waited until just the right moment to break in the first set with the score at 6-5 in his favour, and he looked on track to add to his 6-0 head-to-head record over Baghdatis when he earned two match points at 5-4 in the second.

But Baghdatis fought back to hold serve, break, and serve out the second, before trading breaks with Federer and surviving another match point to take the match to a deciding tie-break. Not one to make the mistake of trying to survive Federer, Baghdatis continued his positive tennis - and excellent serving - to pressure his illustrious opponent into errors and finally claim the tennis king's scalp for the first time.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Almagro is next up for Murray after he sent James Blake 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the tensest of matches. Almagro's 19 aces, to Blake's two, perhaps proved to be the difference as those free points helped the Spaniard to win just six more points overall.

Neither player produced a double fault in a serve-dominated match, in which the only three breaks of serve proved decisive in each set. Despite the third set, Almagro actually spend four minutes less on court than Murray did earlier, so fatigue should be no issue when No.4 meets No.40.

Robin Soderling reached the last 16 by beating Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. It was a battle of the big serves as the top-ten Swede created the only two break points of the match, and took one.

The players shared 26 aces in the match, which sends Soderling a step closer to a potential quarter-final with Murray, should they both beat their next opponents.

For Soderling, that's ninth-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was forced to fight back from a set down to see off Alberto Montanes 4-6 6-3 6-3. The Frenchman sent down 17 aces, 11 of which came, crucially, in the deciding set after Montanes had ground out the early advantage. On only two occasions did the Spaniard create break point openings in the Tsonga serve, and he efficiently took his only one in a gritty first set while offering his opponent no such chances.

Tsonga then started making inroads and controlled the rest of his match to continue his head-to-head dominance over Montanes, which now reads 3-0 in Tsonga's favour.

Andy Roddick pleased the home fans by completing a flawless 6-3 6-4 victory over Thiemo de Bakker in 75 minutes. The Dutch youngster actually out-aced the big serving Roddick 15-10, but the American's consistency proved too great as he won 82% of points when on serve to complete a 2010 double over de Bakker, following the pair's meeting in the Australian Open which Roddick took in straight sets.

No.18 Tommy Robredo cruised against Dudi Sela, dispatching his lower-ranked opponent 6-3 6-0 in just over an hour.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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