What the heck happened in Stadium 2? — By Ricky Dimon

Written by: Staff on 11th March 2014

What the heck happened in Stadium 2? -- By Ricky Dimon

epa04119443 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland serves to Andreas Seppi of Italy during their match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA, 10 March 2014. Wawrinka won the match. EPA/PAUL BUCK |

Maybe we’re spoiled.

In the first year of the luxurious but also intimate Stadium 2, we expect every match in there to live up to the standard of the host building itself.

That was not the case in a trio of men’s singles matches on Monday.

Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka at least played well, but we only enjoyed the pleasure of watching him for exactly 49 minutes. That’s because he erased an overmatched Andreas Seppi 6-0, 6-2. Seppi struck no aces, double-faulted three times, and won fewer than half of the points even when he put a first-serve in play.

Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini produced spurts of electricity, but for the most part they took turns relinquishing what seemed like strangleholds on the match. For example, Monfils had two match points on his own serve at 5-4 in the third set. Fognini did well to save the first, but the Frenchman double-faulted on the second and then got broken to love at 5-6. Monfils finished with 10 double-faults.

Jiri Vesely had a similarly golden opportunity to take down Andy Murray in the day’s opening showdown. The 20-year-old Czech led by a set and held break advantages in both the second and third, but a comedy of double-faults (11 in total) and botched overheads (at least four) kept a mostly uninterested Murray in the tournament.

“The most important thing today was that I won,” Murray commented after a 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4 head-scratching victory. “It was just one of those matches where there wasn’t one period where I thought that the level of tennis from both of us was high at the same time. I wasn’t happy with the way that I played. It’s kind of days like that where I could have lost the match and you don’t get an opportunity until Miami to play better or to improve some things. It’s good to have the chance to play another match here and hopefully put in a better performance.”

We can only hope for better performances on Tuesday, and we just may get them. After all, the popcorn match of the entire day is scheduled for Court 2: Grigor Dimitrov vs. Ernests Gulbis.

Topics: 10sballs, Andreas Seppi, Andy Murray, Ernests Gulbis, Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Jiri Vesely, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Stadium 2, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News