March 16, 2022 - Petra Martić has advanced to the Indian Wells quarter-finals after defeating 23-year-old Russian Ludmilla Samsonova in the round of 16 on Tuesday. 

Petra Martic (WTA - 79th), the only remaining Croatian representative at the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, advanced to the quarter-finals on Tuesday, defeating 23-year-old Russian Ludmilla Samsonova (WTA - 32nd) 7-6 (6), 6- 4 in one hour and 54 minutes of play.

It was the fourth meeting between the two tennis players and the fourth victory for the 31-year-old from Duće.

Martić started the match better, took a 3-0 lead, and held the advantage until the seventh game when the Russian reached her first and only break in the match. The decision to win the first set fell in a tie-break in which Samsonova took a 3-1 lead. However, Samsonova made too many mistakes and after 65 minutes, Martić came to a significant advantage.

In the second set, Petra served excellently and lost only one point in the first four service games. In the fifth and seventh games, Martić missed one break opportunity to break Samsonova's serve in the ninth game. The Russian had one chance to return in the tenth game, but she blew it with one of many unforced errors, and two points later, the Croatian tennis player used the first match point. 

Thus, for the second time in her career, Martić reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells, just like in 2018. Her rival for the semifinals will be Romanian Simona Halep (WTA - 26th), who was better than Sorana Cirstea in the round of 16 with 6- 1, 6-4.

Martić played three matches against the former first tennis player in the world and lost twice. Their quarter-final match at Indian Wells four years ago was their last, and in it, Halep celebrated in three sets, coming back from 1-3 in the third set.

After this tournament, Petra will significantly jump on the WTA list. Before Indian Wells, she was 79th and is currently the 58th best female tennis player in the world.

Source: HRT

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March 14, 2022 - Petra Martić advanced to the round of 16 of the Indian Wells Masters, defeating the current winner of the US Open, 18-year-old British Emma Raducanu (WTA - 13th) in the 3rd round with 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7 -5 after two hours and 46 minutes of play. 

Martić thus reached the round of 16 in Indian Wells for the second time in her career. The first time she managed to do so was in 2018 when she made it to the quarterfinal when the world's best tennis player Romanian Simona Halep topped her in three sets. 

For a spot in the quarterfinal, the 31-year-old will play against the Russian Ludmilla Samsonova, who defeated Montenegrin Danka Kovinić 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the 3rd round. Their history of joint meetings is on the side of the Croatian tennis player who has celebrated in all three of their previous matches, but Samsonova has advanced in the meantime and reached 32nd in the WTA rankings.

Unlike Samsonova, Martić dropped to 79th place and only managed to win three in Indian Wells, which happened to her for the first time since last year's WTA 1000 tournament in Rome.

Martić took a 3-1 lead against Raducanu in the first set and lost four games in a row. With a new break, she managed to extend the set to 4-5 and take it to a tie-break. After that, however, the British tennis player was more precise, and after an hour of play, she reached the initial advantage.

Raducanu took a 2-1 lead with a break in the second set. Martić scored three games and lost the serve again. However, with a 5-4 lead, Petra managed to win the third set with a new break.

She opened it with a 2-0 lead but immediately allowed her opponent to come back. Raducanu took a step towards victory when in the ninth game, she took the service away from Martić for the sixth time in the match. But she did not reach the match point. Instead, Martić used the third opportunity to break in the tenth game and then profited from a series of mistakes that the 18-year-old Briton made in the last two games in which she won only two points.

The final statistics showed more errors by Martić (51-41) and more direct points (36-28). However, the decisive factor was that at no time, regardless of the result, did Petra lose her concentration and faith and eventually turned the match around in her favor. 

Marin Čilić failed to make it to the third round of Indian Wells. The best Croatian tennis player (24th place) was stopped by Serbian Miomir Kecmanović, the 61st tennis player in the world, after a dramatic finale - 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (6).

In the decisive tie-break, Marin missed two match points (6-4) and did not reach the point by the end of the match.

He scored a total of 13 aces with a modest first-serve percentage of 48 percent and used just one of 13 break points in the match.

Source: HRT

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A fantastic success of Nikola Mektić in Indian Wells! The Zagreb tennis player and his Argentinian doubles partner Horacio Zeballos are the winners of this year's Masters 1000 Series Tournament in Indian Wells. The duo celebrated in the final against Polish player Lukasz Kubot and Brazilian Marcelo Melo - 4:6, 6:4, 10:3, reports HTS on March 17, 2019. 

That feeling of winning an #ATPMasters1000 title! @NMektic @HoracioZeballos | #BNPP19

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) March 17, 2019

After losing the first set, Mektić and Zeballos did not face a break until the end of the match, and once they took their opponents service in the 10th game, they equalized in sets. 

In the decisive tie-break, they started with an advantage of 5:1 and pulled through until the end of the match. 

Nikola has thus claimed his sixth career title (in 11 finals), and second in the Masters 1000 Series tournaments after Madrid last year, which he won with Austrian partner Alexander Pey.

The success of Mektić and Zeballos is even more significant because this is only the second tournament the duo has played together. Recall, on their way to the triumph they had a challenging draw and even had to overcome the best doubles team in the world! In the 2nd round of the tournament, they also saved two match points against French duo Herbert and Mahout.

“I cannot believe that we won Indian Wells. After the winning point, we looked at each other in disbelief, as if this is at all possible. Now we know that we can get everyone as a doubles team,” said the Zagreb native. 

As winners, Mektić and Zeballos added 1000 points to their ranking and have won a $457,000 cash prize. Mektić also became the first Croatian to claim the title in the Californian desert after Ivan Ljubičić defeated Andy Roddick in the final in 2010 to become the first Croat ever to win Indian Wells. 

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At 40 years old, Croatian tennis player Ivo Karlović has advanced to the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 series tournament in Indian Wells. Karlović continued defying his age and defeated 29-year-old Indian player Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6:3 and 7:6 (3) after an hour and 13 minutes in the third round, reports HRT on March 11, 2019. 

Against the little-known Indian rival, Karlović played an excellent match with great serving, was strong playing at the net where he managed stunning volleys and was able to press his opponent at the right time in the return. He continued his winning series without a lost set.

The only two breaks in the match against Gunneswaran came in the first game, when it was 15:40 and after Karlović missed three of the first four services. But with two service winners, the Croatian tennis player pulled out of an unpleasant situation. On the other hand, when Gunneswaran found himself in trouble in the eighth game of the first set, Karlović used it and scored a break that brought him the first set of the match.

Karlović had the only break in the third game of the second set, but Gunneswaran was excellent, and the winner was decided in a tie break.

Gunneswaran made too many errors in the decisive game, while Karlović hit three aces - and there was no longer any uncertainty about who would move on. Karlović led 6:1, Gunneswaran reduced the lead to 6:3, but then Karlović secured his 16th ace of the game for an impressive victory.

In the fourth round, Karlović will play against 25-year-old Austrian Dominic Thieme, while Novak Djokovic would most likely be waiting for Karlović in the eventual quarterfinal.

Marin Čilić will play his round of 32 match against Canadian player Denis Shapovalov on Tuesday evening (Central European Time). Mate Pavić and doubles partner Oliver Marach will play on Wednesday. 

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Croatia’s best tennis player Marin Čilić, who is outside the world’s top 10 for the first time since October 2016, joins Ivo Karlović in the third round of the Masters Series 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, reports HRT on March 11, 2019. 

Marin Čilić, the 11th-seed of the tournament who was free in the first round, defeated Serbian tennis player Dušan Lajović, 45th on the ATP ranking, 6:3, 6:4 on Sunday.

This was the third meeting between Čilić and Lajović and the third victory of the Croatian player. This time, Čilić celebrated after an hour and 33 minutes of play.

At the start of the first set, Čilić took the service of his rival twice and led 4:0. In the eighth game, Čilić missed seven breaks but managed to secure the first set in the next game.

The second set saw a more equal game. Čilić took the service of his rival twice, and Lajović from Čilić once. In the tenth game, the Serbian tennis player had three breaks, but Čilić saved all of them and took advantage of his second match point. 

In the third round, Čilic will play against Canadian player Denis Shapovalov, who defeated American player Steve Johnson 6:3, 6: 4. In their only match so far, Čilić celebrated in Basel in 2018.

In the duel, Čilić won 77 percent of his first-serve points and Lajović only 55 percent.

This was Čilić’s sixth match of 2019 as he had to withdraw from two tournaments this year because of a knee injury. Čilić’s best result in Indian Wells was in 2016 when he reached the quarterfinals.

Ivo Karlović will play his third round match on Monday against Indian tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran. This will be the first meeting between the two players. 

Mate Pavić is representing Croatia in the doubles competition with partner Oliver Marach. The two will play in the round of 16 on Tuesday against Mackenzie McDonald and Reilly Opelka. 

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