Big Four Blast Through on Marathon Day at Indian Wells

After over 12 hours of tennis was complete at Indian Wells, we realized we had learned what we already knew.

By Chris Oddo

(March 13, 2013) -- It started innocently enough, but after 12 hours and 36 minutes of tennis on Stadium court, it finished angrily, with a ball smashed into the steadily thinning crowd. In between there was drama, angst, shenanigans, and some inspired tennis.

And what we thought we knew, we still know.

The big four, comprised of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray, all proved their superiority, though Federer and Nadal needed extra time and effort to prove theirs.

Federer found himself down a break to Stan Wawrinka in the final set, and for a while it appeared that his longtime whipping boy might finally rise up and give Federer a taste of his own medicine. But Wawrinka, who dropped to 1-13 lifetime with the 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5 loss to the World No. 2, would falter in the final game while serving to force a third-set tiebreaker.

Wawrinka must have been heartbroken to drop his 11th straight to Federer, but he can take solace in the fact that he's now won two of the last six sets against his compatriot after losing 12 straight in a horrid stretch that lasted from the beginning of 2011 until last October.

Federer has gotten so good at pulling out these types of close matches that he apparently no longer knows how he does it. "I don't know what gets me through," he told reporters afterwards. "Maybe it's experience or maybe it's a bit more calm in critical moments." Whatever it is, the World No. 2 will need more of it on Thursday, as he takes on Rafael Nadal for the 29th time in the quarterfinals.

Nadal was pushed, prodded and pulled for over two and a half hours on Wednesday night by Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, but the fiery Spaniard proved up to the task in every way. Despite some jaw-dropping shotmaking from Gulbis, Nadal fought back from a set down, and finally put his upset-minded opponent away when he held serve after notching the decisive break in the 11th game of the third set.

"Today my movements weren't perfect," said Nadal. After returning to the tour from a 7-month injury hiatus, the World No. 5 now owns a record of 14-1 with two titles. If he wasn't perfect, he was certainly fantastic.

Nadal won his fifth career decision over Gulbis, but the match was a rollicking, rowdy affair that featured plenty of highlight-reel material from both sides of the net.

Federer and Nadal will meet for the 29th time on Thursday, but strangely they've never met in the quarterfinal round of any tournament. "Feels like it happened 100 years before," Nadal said, reflecting on his 6-3, 6-3 decision over Federer in their first meeting, which occurred in 2004 in Miami. Though Nadal owns the 18-10 career edge, Federer dominated the Spaniard in last year's semifinal at Indian Wells, en route to capturing his fourth career title in the desert.

The other two members of the big four, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, scored less complicated victories on Wednesday. Murray's 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Argentina's Carlos Berlocq will likely garner more attention because of Murray's willingness to criticize his opponent's grunting than the actual tennis that was played.

After Berlocq questioned that Murray might be taking too long before serving, Murray ripped into the Argentine, saying "If it's going to be suggested that I'm using gamesmanship by taking too long, then you can't make noises like that on court." The debate would spill over into the press room, where Roger Federer chimed in, saying "I think it's important to respect the opponent as a player so you shouldn't grunt too loud."

For all the talking that is being done about grunting in tennis, it doesn't appear that there is actually anything being done to curtail it. Perhaps today's spirited dialogue could mark a sea change in grunting politics? Don't bet on it.

Novak Djokovic suffered the indignity of having to close this marathon day out, and he looked to be doing a good job of giving the people what they wanted when he bageled Sam Querrey in 22 minutes in the first set. But Querrey, the newly anointed top-ranked American, fought back valiantly, getting to within two points of winning the set before Djokovic closed it out, and angrily smashed a ball into the stands.

It was late, and Djokovic was tired. Who could blame him for being cranky?

It all ended at 1:50 A.M. Credit to the fans who were still there when Djokovic's 21st consecutive win, a 6-0, 7-6(6) victory over Querrey, drew to a close.

(Photo Credit: AP)