Federer advances as Wawrinka, Murray fall at Indian Wells

Friday, 14 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Roger Federer cruised into the quarter-finals of the PNB 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 struck a blow for the old world order with a 6-4 6-4 win over German Tommy Haas. The only player left in the men’s draw with a higher ranking than world number eight Federer is Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who was due to play Marin Cilic in Wednesday’s feature night match. 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. 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. 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 Frenchman Julien Benneteau, losing 6-3 7-6(4). In the only match completed in the women’s draw, Romania’s Simona Halep cruised into the semi-finals with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Australian qualifier Casey Dellacqua. Halep only needed an hour to wrap up a lopsided victory and will now play either second seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Jelena Jankovic on Friday.