Marcos Baghdatis, Juan Monaco suffer upsets in opening matches at BNP Paribas Open
Somdev Devvarman ousts Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 6-0
Indian tennis pro and World Number 84 Somdev Devvarman surprised spectators in his second-round match against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, defeating the 19thseed in straight sets with a bagel.
Devvarman secured his spot in the main draw of the Indian Wells tournament after fighting for three rounds in the qualifying matches. He defeated French player Adrian Mannarino in the first round of the tournament, while Baghdatis
received a bye in the first round due to his high ranking.
However, Baghdatis’ spot as 19th seed did not seem to assist him at all during the tournament. While he faltered during the match, Devvarman was in top form and took advantage of every opportunity to take the lead. He
used both his forehand and his powerful groundstrokes to overwhelm Baghdatis completely. Although the first set was tight, Devvarman managed to convert five of eight break points successfully to win the match with a bagel in the second set.
Devvarman will face Belgian tennis pro Xavier Malisse in the third round, after Malisse scored his own upset after defeating French World Number 17 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. If Devvarman moves past his Belgian opponent,
he may be setting up a match against World Number 1 Rafael Nadal, who will face American qualifier Ryan Sweeting in the third round.
Ryan Sweeting defeats Juan Monaco 6-1, 0-6, 6-1
American qualifier Ryan Sweeting managed to upset Argentine tennis pro and World Number 30 in three fast-paced sets at the 2011 Indian Wells Masters, ousting his opponent in just over an hour and forty-five minutes.
Sweeting is currently ranked just outside the Top 100 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, at World Number 105. The player is 23 years old, and qualified for the BNP Paribas Open after three strenuous rounds. He managed
to defeat Spanish World Number 50 Marcel Granollers in straight sets in the first round of the tournament, and repeated the performance in his second round against seeded player Monaco.
Juan Monaco is seeded 27th at the tournament, but once again, his high ranking was of little use to him during the tournament. He could not save five of nine break points, but took advantage of a mid-match lapse on Sweeting’s
part to score a bagel against his opponent. However, he lost the match with two fries against him.
With this victory, Ryan Sweeting managed to set up a third-round match against World Number 1 Rafael Nadal. Nadal, on the other hand, defeated qualifier Rik De Voest in the second round in straight sets. He is expected to repeat
this performance against Sweeting to move ahead to the fourth round of the tournament against either Somdev Devvarman or Xavier Malisse.
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