Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic cruised into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Wednesday after Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka both fell in the fourth round.
In a tournament full of surprises, Federer and Djokovic struck a blow for the old world order with Federer beating Germany’s Tommy Haas 6-4 6-4 and Djokovic coming back to down Croatia’s Marin Cilic 1-6 6-2 6-3.
Federer and Djokovic are the only players ranked in the world’s top 10 to reach the quarter-finals after Wawrinka and Murray joined the big-name casualties when they both crashed to lower-ranked opponents on another day of upsets in the Californian desert.
Wawrinka suffered his first loss this year when his 13-match winning streak came to a shuddering halt as he was beaten 7-6(1) 4-6 6-1 by South African Kevin Anderson.
“It wasn’t really on my mind that he had won Australia,” said Anderson, whose next opponent is Federer.
“It feels great to beat somebody who obviously has just won a grand slam.”
Murray was blown away by Canada’s Milos Raonic, one of the biggest servers in men’s tennis.
Despite winning the first set, the Scotsman was unable to contain the raw power of Raonic, who triumphed 4-6 7-5 6-3 in a little over two hours.
Raonic blasted 15 aces past his bewildered opponent, who is one of the best returners in the game, and won a staggering 83 per cent of points when he landed his first serve.
Murray did break Raonic’s serve in the opening set and again in the deciding third to lead 2-1 but lost the next four games in a row against the 6ft 5in (1.96 metre) tall Canadian.
“To get broken two consecutive times in that situation isn’t good enough. I played poor tennis at that stage. I didn’t make enough balls and I missed some really easy shots,” Murray told reporters.
Raonic’s next opponent in the quarter-finals will be Ukrainian giant killer Alexandr Dolgopolov, who followed up his upset victory over Rafa Nadal on Monday with a comprehensive 6-2 6-4 drubbing of Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
John Isner kept American hopes alive with a 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 win over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, while Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis defeated Roberto Bautista of Spain 7-6(0) 4-6 6-2.
A third Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, was sent packing by unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau, losing 6-3 7-6(4).
In the women’s draw, second seed Agnieszka Radwanska booked her spot in the semi-finals after a two-and-a-half hour slugfest with Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic.
Radwanska looked to have regained control when she led 4-0 in the third set but only sealed the win by reeling off the last two games when Jankovic drew level at 4-4.
Radwanska’s semi-final opponent today is Romania’s Simona Halep after she cruised into the next round with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Australian Casey Dellacqua.