Ana Night Like This

Ana Ivanovic's run of bad luck continues. Playing "the best tennis [she] probably played in a very, very long time," Ivanovic got off to a great start against Maria Sharapova Friday night. But a glute strain (initially reported as a hip injury) started hampering her movement halfway through the first set and Sharapova gradually took over the match. Ivanovic requested a medical timeout, explaining later that she could not push off the ground on her serve or backhand. The Serbian tried a few more games, called for her coach, and eventually crossed the net to concede the match, choking back tears while she made a quick exit.

Taking it on the Chin    

The second-seeded doubles team of Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi took on all 13 feet 3 inches of “Quisner” (Sam Querrey and John Isner) out on Court 2 Friday. Experience and team cohesion are great and all, but when the Americans got together at the net, there weren't a lot of options for the Belarussian-Canadian pair. In the two-set match, there were perhaps only two  successful lobs. 

Eventually, Mirnyi tried blasting right through the Americans, but Querrey has quick hands and the "underdogs" took out the second-seeded Mirnyi/Nestor, 6-4, 6-2. They'll meet 2010 winners, Nadal and Marc Lopez in the Final tomorrow.

Saturday Sellout

Nadal isn't the only one licking his lips at the prospect of a 28th meeting with rival Roger Federer. Just imagine how thrilled the tournament organizers are that both men won their quarterfinals Friday! While Nadal holds an 18-9 lead in their career head-to-head, Federer has been on a tear, going 16-2 this year (one of the losses was to Nadal in Australia), after closing out 2011 with three consecutive titles, including at the ATP World Tour Finals. After a quiet finish to 2011, Nadal was the Australian Open Runner-up this year, and has been playing well here in Indian Wells. This one looks like a toss-up. Either way, as Nadal acknowledged, "Always are special matches... I am playing probably against the best of the history."

Looking forward to a great weekend of tennis, all we need now is for the weather to cooperate!

You can see more of Jason's photos from Friday HERE