Indian wells, March 16: Novak Djokovic staved off triple match point in the third set to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3) on Monday in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Djokovic, the 2008 champion, trailed love-40 on his serve in the 10th game of the third set, but got back into the match mostly on Kohlschreiber’s mistakes. The Serb’s forehand volley winner saved the first match point, then Kohlschreiber missed consecutive backhands for deuce.
“When I needed to, I did the work, served well and made some good approaches from the forehand side,” Djokovic said. “He could easily be the winner of this match and he would deserve it.”
Kohlschreiber held for his last lead at 6-5, then Djokovic served a love game to force the tiebreaker, which he led 4-0 before closing out the match with a forehand winner.
Defending champion and third-ranked Rafael Nadal needed just over an hour to put away Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2.
Nadal lost just one first-serve point and never faced a break point in beating Ancic for the fourth time in five meetings.
U.S. Davis Cup teammates John Isner and Sam Querry were to meet in a night match, after Kim Clijsters continued her comeback against Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.
Djokovic was still delighted about his meeting last week with Pete Sampras, the 14-time Grand Slam champion whom he called his “lifetime idol.”
“He’s the one that gave me a lot of motivation to became a professional player because I didn’t have anyone playing tennis in my family. I had to do it myself,” Djokovic said.
The 22-year-old went into the meeting believing it was no big deal
“But it was incredible,” he said. “He tells you, `You win with your mind and your heart.’ He promised to hit with me.”
-----Agencies
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