Friday March 16th BNP Paribas Schedule Preview

Written by: Staff on 16th March 2012

Friday March 16th BNP Paribas Schedule Preview

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Tennis fans are in for great day of heavy hitting as Federer, Nadal, Del Potro, Nalbandian, Azarenka, Sharapova, and Ivanovic all take the court today. The highly-anticipated quarterfinal match up between Del Potro and Federer is a rematch of their Australian Open quarterfinal, Rotterdam final, and Dubai semifinal earlier this year (Federer won all three meetings). Federer has had to come through two three-setters just to get to the quarterfinals and has been struggling with a bit of a cold/flu since arriving to Indian Wells. Del Potro has looked very good during his early rounds but has been having some hiccups in his game during crucial moments in his sets, thus leading to some tight matches as well. Will Roger Federer make it four in a row against the tall Argentine? You can catch this match at 1pm pst.

Two of the best ball strikers in the world are Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian, they take center stage and face off for a semifinal berth following the Federer/Del Potro match. Nalbandian saved match point against Tsonga in the round of 16 while Nadal is playing his first tournament since the Australian Open. Nadal may run away with the match if Nalbandian isn’t able to keep up with the high-octane Spaniard – Nadal cruised through Alexandr Dolgopolov, one of the fastest players in the world, two days ago.

Doubles action between Max “The Beast” Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor versus John Isner and Sam Querrey takes place on stadium 2 at 2pm pst. Mirnyi is a great friend and supporter of www.10sballs.com so good luck out there! Don’t miss this match because it is the only match played on the outer stadium courts today!

Victoria Azarenka is a heavy favorite to reach the women’s finals as she takes on #18 seed Angelique Kerber. Following that match is another exciting match up between Ana Ivanovic vs Maria Sharapova. Sharapova needed three hours and five minutes to get by Kirilenko in the late afternoon yesterday, Ivanovic was very determined and focused during her straight set win over Bartoli yesterday. Last but not least, women’s doubles #1 Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond take on Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova for a spot in the finals.

Topics: Ana Ivanovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Maria Sharapova, Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka