Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova out of Indian Wells Masters

The Indian Wells Masters lost both the defending champions Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova on Monday as both were beaten in the third round.

Nadal, who had not lost a semi-final at the event in a decade and won the event three-times went down to Alexsandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5). The back injury that got him during the Australian Open continued to affect his game. Nadal said that he played bad and is disappointed with himself.

Maria Sharapova who was seeded fourth lost to Italy’s Camile Giorgi 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. She said that her performance was nowhere near where it should have been and it was just a bad day.

Meanwhile Andy Murray and Roger Federer won their respective matches and advanced to the fourth round. Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka crushed Andreas Seppi 6-0, 6-2.

Murray’s match was mostly filled with errors but he managed to get past Czech Jiri Vesely with 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4. Russian veteran Dimitry Tursunov put up a fight 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-2) before falling to Federer.

Federer said that he felt calm and came back even after being down in a set. Murray who committed nearly 50 unforced errors said that it is one of the moments where one feels there is confidence around somewhere.

In women’s category, Li Na beat Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-4 while Canadian Alexsandra Wozniak won over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0.