Murray and Ferrer make early exits, Nadal wins

Reuters) - Fifth seed Andy Murray, sixth-seeded David Ferrer and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic all fell by the wayside on a day of startling upsets at the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Saturday.

British world number five Murray was eliminated 7-6 6-3 by American qualifier Donald Young, Spaniard Ferrer crashed out 7-6 6-3 at the hands of Croat Ivo Karlovic and Ljubicic was beaten 5-7 6-4 6-2 by Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

Spanish world number one and top seed Rafa Nadal, however, had little trouble with his opening match as he demolished South African qualifier Rik de Voest 6-0 6-2 after just an hour on the showpiece center court.

“It was a good victory for me,” left-hander Nadal, champion at Indian Wells in 2007 and 2009, told reporters. “Probably my opponent played a little bit more nervous than usual.

“For that reason, it wasn’t one of these matches that I had to play my best tennis. I did what I had to do to win, no?”

The early exit of Murray was the most surprising of the day’s upsets, despite the fact that the 23-year-old Scot had not competed in more than a month.

Murray has always enjoyed playing at Indian Wells, where he was a runner-up in 2009, but he struggled for fluency against his 143rd-ranked opponent who won the biggest match of his career with an aggressive brand of tennis.

“Most of it was not great today,” a subdued Murray said after being beaten in just over an hour-and-a-half. “I didn’t serve particularly well, I didn’t move very well.

“He hit a lot of winners and gained in confidence, I guess, from hitting more winners.”

The Croat, who broke the fastest serve world record with a 251 kph (156 mph) blast during his country’s Davis Cup tie against Germany in Zagreb last week, will next meet Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat German Rainer Schuettler 6-3 7-6.

Croat Ljubicic, who upset American Andy Roddick 7-6 7-6 in last year’s final, won a tight opening set against del Potro before being broken once in the second and twice in the third.

Del Potro, who won his eighth ATP title at last month’s Delray Beach International Championships, will next meet Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4 6-4 winner against Romania’s Victor Hanescu.

In other matches, Sweden’s fourth seed Robin Soderling fended off a late fightback by Germany’s Michael Berrer to win 6-3 7-6 while India’s Somdev Devvarman upset 19th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 7-5 6-0.

Wozniacki eases through, Li and Hantuchova out

Reuters) - Top seed Caroline Wozniacki barely raised a sweat as she pummelled American wildcard Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-2 in the second round of the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Saturday.

The Danish world number one, who lost to Serb Jelena Jankovic in last year’s final at Indian Wells, broke Stephens twice in the first set and three times in the second to wrap up victory in just over an hour.

China’s seventh-seeded Li Na, however, was eliminated 4-6 6-3 6-3 by compatriot Peng Shuai and 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was ousted 7-6 7-6 by 18-year-old American wildcard Christina McHale. It was the third successive tournament where Australian Open runner-up Li has lost her opening match but the first time she had been beaten by Peng in four meetings.

Wozniacki ended her match against Stephens with a crisp forehand volley into an open court and will next meet 28th-seeded Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who beat Romania’s Simona Halep 7-5 6-0.

Earlier, twice former champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia tumbled out of the tournament after being beaten 7-6 6-4 by Russian former world number one Dinara Safina.

Safina, who has slipped to 108th in the rankings after being troubled by a back injury last year, will next face fourth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur who swept past Spaniard Laura Pous-Tio 6-2 6-2.

In other second-round matches, eighth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4 6-3 while 16th-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova scraped through 7-5 6-7 6-1 against Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues. Italy’s 13th seed Flavia Pennetta battled past Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-4 3-6 6-4 and Czech Lucie Hradecka upset 27th-seeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 4-6 6-4 6-4.