INDIAN WELLS (USA): Facing an opponent he had never seen play, Novak Djokovic relied on some old-fashioned word of mouth.
Asking around the locker room and getting some intel from his coach, Djokovic went out and beat Alejandro Gonzalez 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 on Tuesday, ending the Colombian’s surprising run to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open.
John Isner, the lone American remaining in the men’s draw, defeated Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round. Isner fired 13 aces, hit 32 winners and gained a break in each set. Lu managed just nine winners and never held a break point against Isner.
Top-seeded Li Na defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-4, setting up a quarterfinal against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia that will be a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Li won in straight sets.
Li rallied from an 0-3 deficit in the second set, winning six of the final seven games. The last game went to deuce 10 times before Li won on her 11th match point when Wozniak’s backhand sailed long.
”I can only say, ‘Welcome to the crazy women’s tennis tour,”’ Li said about the last game.
Gonzalez had never won an ATP Tour match in six tries before Indian Wells. He won third-set tiebreakers in his first two matches here before keeping the world’s second-ranked man on the court for just over 1 1/2 hours.
”I just had a big loss of concentration and allowed him to win the second set for no reason,” Djokovic said. ”Bounced back better in the third, but I obviously cannot allow myself to have these particular concentration lapses in the match at this level.”
Djokovic had 28 winners to 11 for Gonzalez, who also had 23 unforced errors in his first Masters 1000 event.
Djokovic next plays 24th-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat 16th-seeded Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-3.
Jelena Jankovic routed Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals in a matchup of former tournament champions and No. 1-ranked players.
Jankovic next plays second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-3.
Jankovic made the quarterfinals for the first time since winning the Indian Wells title in 2010, when she beat Wozniacki. The Dane won the title in 2011 and lost to Maria Sharapova in last year’s final.
But she offered little resistance against Jankovic, who raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set before Wozniacki held at 40-love to avoid getting shut out in front of her fiance, golfer Rory McIlroy.
Jankovic was the world’s top-ranked player in 2008. Wozniacki reached the top spot in 2010; she’s now No. 12. Jankovic, who is ranked eighth, was the first top-10 player Wozniacki has faced so far this year.
Jankovic ended a five-match skid against Wozniacki, with the Serb having recovered from a back problem that occurred in her match two nights earlier. Jankovic didn’t hit on Monday and felt too stiff to put her shoes on.
Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi failed to build on her upset of defending champion Maria Sharapova, losing to countrywoman Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-1. Pennetta next plays American Sloane Stephens, who beat Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 7-5.
American Lauren Davis withdrew from her match against qualifier Casey Dellacqua of Australia because of a gastrointestinal illness. Dellacqua advanced to the quarters against No. 6 seed Simona Halep of Romania, who beat Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. (AP)