Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland was fortunate to avoid being swept out along with the tide of top-seeded men who have been dismissed early from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. No. 3 seed Wawrinka fended off two match points Wednesday to prevail over lucky loser Yoshihito…
Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland was fortunate to avoid being swept out along with the tide of top-seeded men who have been dismissed early from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
No. 3 seed Wawrinka fended off two match points Wednesday to prevail over lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and move onto the quarterfinals.
“I wasn’t playing great. I was not moving well at the beginning. I was a little bit hesitating with my game,” Wawrinka said. “I think in general in the third set I played better than the two first sets…. You have to be a little bit lucky when he served twice for the match.”
His next opponent will be No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, who defeated No. 10 Gael Monfils of France, 6-3, 6-2, in the day’s final match.
With No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic having lost Wednesday, Wawrinka and No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan are the only men left from the top seven seeds. Nishikori defeated Donald Young , 6-2, 6-4, on Wednesday, coming back after the American had taken leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the second set.
“From 4-1 I think I started playing much better, stepping in a little more and playing aggressive,” Nishikori said. “I think it’s a little bit unusual to win five games in a row, but in the first set I was playing great tennis.
