BNP Paribas Open: Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka Take Titles

Six years have passed since Roger Federer celebrated at the final match in Indian Wells.

On Sunday, he celebrated another BNP Paribas Open title.

The 2012 BNP Paribas Open held the final match in the women’s competition in Indian Wells on Sunday. The highly-anticipated match pitted the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked women’s singles players in the world against one another, as top player Victoria Azarenka went up against Maria Sharapova. In the end, the match was anticlimactic, as Sharapova was thoroughly overwhelmed. Azarenka absolutely demolished her opponent in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

Azarenka’s year is already off to a historically hot start. The world’s No. 1 player has begun 2012 with 23 straight wins, which is the fourth-best start to a year of competition in the history of professional women’s tennis. She will have a chance to catch up to the other women on the list before all is said and done. The record is held by Steffi Graf, who began 1987 with 45 wins. The number that Azarenka is currently chasing is 37 straight wins, held by Martina Hingis in 1997 and Martina Navratilova in 1978.

It was 6-3, 5-4 at 40-30 in the World No. 3’s favor.

And then it was rain.

Welcome to the Top 10 club, John Isner.

On Day 11 in the BNP Paribas Open, American John Isner upset the tournament’s defending champion Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (5).

Question: How many former titles of Indian Wells are playing in the semifinal round?

Answer: six.

Times Serbian Novak Djokovic has won the BNP Paribas Open: two (2008, 2011).

Roger Federer’s victory recorded a milestone and Ana Ivanovic’s retirement moved Maria Sharapova into the WTA finals on Day 10 at the BNP Paribas Open.

No. 3-seeded Federer swiftly defeated No. 9-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro in just 69 minutes, 6-3, 6-2. His 13 aces propelled the Swiss tennis star to a record 250th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match victory.

And on the ninth day of the BNP Paribas Open, the tournament’s defending champion won again. Novak Djokovic is into the semifinals.

Djokovic, the No. 1 seed, beat No. 12 seed Nicolas Almagro, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 22 minutes. He recorded five aces and no double faults. Djokovic has now won 10 straight matches.

No player on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour had begun a season 21-0 since Serena Williams in 2003. Until today, that is.

No. 1 seed Victoria Azarenka defeated No. 5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska to remain perfect.

Matthew Ebden.

That may be the first time in your life you read that name. Well, the second if you just read the headline.

The world No. 1’s current match player isn’t an exact replica of last years incredible 43-match win streak winner, but he’s pretty darn close.

After beating 29th seeded Kevin Anderson in the third round, Djokovic improved to 12-1 in 2012. Djokovic is the defending champion at Indian Wells. (He also won the title in 2008.) His No. 1 seed earned him enough byes to make the third-round match his first match of the tournament. And the defending champ broke serve twice during his fourth straight defeat of Anderson.

Combined they have five titles from the BNP Parbias, so maybe that’s why Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer dropped only nine games total to advance to the third round.

Nadal, who has previously won in Indian Wells twice, defeated Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 6-1 6-3. Nadal broke his opponent twice and won in an hour and 15 minutes. Nadal has reached the last six semifinals of the BNP Parbias. He lost in last year’s final to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

A flu-like virus forced both ATP and WTA players to withdraw from the BNP Parbias Open.

The virus has caused a spike in visits to the emergency room in Coachella Valley. In a statement released Sunday, the Eisenhower Medical Center said they saw a 15 percent jump in visits from just last week.

The second round is getting under way in Indian Wells and some of the biggest names in tennis will try to avoid a similar fate as Andy Murray, who was knocked out by a qualifier in the first round. Among the notable players in action are Roger Federer, who’s taking on Denis Kudla, and Rafael Nadal, who’s facing Leonardo Mayer.

The best match of Sunday on the men’s side will likely be the duel between sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and countryman Michael Llodra. Tsonga is an eminently watchable player (who looks exactly like a young, slightly hefty Muhammad Ali, for what it’s worth), and he should be playing some of his best tennis against a talented guy from his home country of France in Llodra.

On Day Four of the BNP Paribas Open, the American men all celebrated in victory. And, of course, so did that one Serb.

Americans Andy Roddick (30 seed), Ryan Harrison, John Isner (11 seed) and Mardy Fish (8 seed) all won to advance at Indian Wells. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic also won with a convincing score of 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 20 minute match.

Victoria Azarenka might have a perfect record, but her statistics on Friday were anything but perfect.

The No. 1 WTA player in the world had zero aces, 12 double faults and gave up a 5-1 lead in the second set during her first match at BNP Parbias Open.

American Robby Ginepri did something Thursday he hadn’t done since 2008, the year he jumped 112 spots in the ranking in five months: he won a match at Indian Wells. It made him the first unseeded American to advance from the first round in the BNP Parbias Open.

Ginepri, a wild card entry, faced Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi. Although on paper, the stats don’t lean in Ginepri’s favor (Lorenzi is better in first-serve percentage, second-serve points won and break-points saved), the score is in the American’s favor. In the end, Ginepri won just two more points than Lorenzi, and after two hours and eight minutes, he won a three-set duel 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

While world No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki battled the winds in practice, American Jamie Hampton hit through them to overtake her opponent at the BNP Parbias Open.

Hampton -- now ranked No. 99, the first top-100 ranking of her career -- defeated Slovakian Polona Hercog, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round at Indian Wells.

A year ago, Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka weren’t the best in the world. In fact, Djokovic was the third-best on the men’s side and Azarenka the ninth-best.

When Djokovic won last year’s BNP Parbias Open, he actually had a semi-upset when he defeated then-world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who a year later is still ranked the second-best in the world.