My Indian Wells run has ended now and time to reflect a bit upon it. My choice here was Dimitrov, maybe not the best choice for me on this surface.
In R64 and R32 I played against
Sexysova and
ThierryH, against both the first time. I had the impression that both of them showed good movement because it was more difficult than expected to hit a winner past them. Ultimately, they were likely too defensive and had problems on return, which made it easier for me, especially after getting used a bit to their games. Both of them have potential to improve, but will have to take more risks.
In
R16 it was time for the third match against
Robbin this season. We played it directly after our Dubai match, he as Llodra in both matches, but I had to switch from Pospisil (two-handed BH) to Dimitrov (one-handed BH). That was not the only change, Dimitrov has to be used differently, different shot selection because of his higher spin.
As one of the best tacticians Robbin was aware of the changes and took advantage of it early on. He was serving first, my BH return was not as well as it was with Pospisil and he hit some high balls to my BH during rallies, which won him points early on. He held for 1-0 and got double break point in my service game. I got back to game point, but ultimately he broke and I felt as if I could lose this match. I hung in there and broke back out of nowhere, feeling more comfortable afterwards, but I was less dominant in rallies than in the previous match-up.
Be it due to the BH, higher spin of Dimitrov or Robbin playing better than in the Dubai match -- it was not straight-forward in this set. I was very close to losing this set, me serving at 3-4 down, faced double break point, which felt more like double set point. I got out of that game with good serving and broke for 5-4, serving it out without much trouble, phew.
Second set then was more like previous match at Dubai, except for the final game, me serving it out: Better to not talk about the bad positioning he and I showed there in some rallies.
Overall a fun match, which showed me I had to work on some things with Dimitrov.
In
QF it was then time for my third match with
pidzi. He was Davydenko, who has better baseline game than Llodra, is faster, but is also smaller. So, using more top spin was a reasonable tactical choice. I got more comfortable with Dimitrov and was hitting my shots well that day, especially in the beginning of the match. Both of us looked to play fast and close to the baseline, it was not easy to either come in or hit a winner unless one got a shorter shot. I got to some 0-30 situations which all got out of with very focused play and I also managed holding serve well in the first set until 5-6. I had game points to reach tie break, I saved break points here with good serving, ultimately he grabbed this set with a rally at the net (including a netcord of course!).
In the second set I started well, getting my first break points, which he could save. At 2-1 for him, me serving, he broke in a good game for him. A set and a break down there was no reason for me to give up and I got another chance to break his serve and these were the only important points I have some regrets about (two faults). The end was unspectacular.
It was a high quality match, pidzi better or more determined in the most important situations, congrats for that!
For me it is time to put focus back on Dubai and make a character choice for Miami.
) and good luck everyone!
