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  • Indian Wells 3rd Round Summary - Bottom Quarter

    3/18/08 1:14 PM | Cheryl Murray
    - No real surprises on Monday for the bottom section of the draw, as the top seeds advance in convincing fashion.

    Rafael Nadal (2) def. Donald Young 6-1, 6-3

    Glimpses of Donald Young's potential and talent could be seen in this match; every great once in a while he hit a fantastic winner, and the light bulb would go on - THIS was why everyone has talked about the kid for so long. But for most of the match, he played poorly, at points shockingly so. The young American could not cope at all with the heavy topspin generated by Rafael Nadal, with the result that he shanked balls left, right and center.

    Nadal had much better depth of shot than he did in his second round match against Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo, though he still lacked much of the aggression that he claims he wants to employ. Young played so poorly, that the Spanish powerhouse never had to get out second gear. So dominant was Nadal, that he faced just one break point the entire match, that when he was serving for the win. Next up for Nadal is the giant-killer, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, who crushed the Spaniard in the semifinals of the Australian Open in January.

    Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (17) def Paul-Henri Mathieu (14) 7-6 (5), 6-4

    New French sensation Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated his compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu in a match filled with sloppy errors and bad decision making on the part of Mathieu. Mathieu actually had a set point in the first set on a ball that was going clearly going to be wide, but instead of letting it go, he made a stab volley and dumped it into the net. Set point erased. Tsonga went on to win the tie break and take a set that should have been his opponent's.

    The second set was all about Tsonga's serve and Mathieu's mentally fragility. Amazingly, Tsonga lost just one point on his serve for the entire set, a fact which visibly rattled Mathieu. He was able to stick with Tsonga for most of the set, but as he was serving to stay in the match, he hit forehand error after forehand error, essentially gift wrapping the match for Tsonga and dropping it into his lap as an early Christmas present. This win sets up a blockbuster round of 16 match with world number 2 Rafael Nadal.

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