Ernests Gulbis entered this match with a 13 match win streak over two tournaments including qualies in both rounds.  He felt confident he could play with Rafa despite Rafa being able to claim 2 titles and 1 final on the “golden swing”.  That was clay, however, and this is hard courts.  Here, Rafa is more vulnerable to more players who happen to favor fast courts.

I didn’t think Gulbis could keep up with Nadal, but Nadal seemed a bit off and Gulbis was confident.  With Gulbis hitting big, the two stayed fairly even throughout.  A Nadal double-fault meant the break to Gulbis in set one.  In set 2, Nadal broke early, but Gulbis eventually broke back.  Nadal broke again to win the second set.

The third set was tight.  Gulbis would often rush to a 40-15 point, give up a point, then eventually hold.  He would make a little inroad into Nadal’s game, but Nadal would generally win the 30-all point and take the game.  The two stayed even until 5-all when Nadal played a solid match to break.  Nadal then went 40-0 before an error and double fault brought it to 40-30.  Gulbis tried to hit big to break, but eventually Nadal hit a shot angled wide and won the match.

He’ll face Roger Federer.  Federer was playing less than his best, possibly due to back issues which forced him to miss practice yesterday.  Federer seemed on top of his game and was on his way to a comfortable win with a  6-3 first set.  He was up a break and seemed well on his way when Wawrinka broke back and leveled the match.  He eventually won the tiebreak comfortably.

The third set was fairly even as well, but Wawrinka ultimately played a poor game where he made too many errors and handed Federer the break.  Final score: 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.

This means the blockbuster match between Federer and Nadal is set up.  With Federer’s back bothering him, I wonder if he’ll drop out.  He may hope that he can get some physio magic.  Nadal may not be playing great tennis, but Federer is showing signs of struggle.   If he wants to win, he’ll want to do in straight sets.

Kevin Anderson continued his winning ways beating Gilles Simon: 63 16 64.

Tsonga continues his mastery over Milos Raonic with a tough 3-set win: 46 75 64.

Tomas Berdych mostly had no problems beating Richard Gasquet: 61 75.

del Potro won comfortably over Tommy Haas: 61 62.

Murray needed to come from a break behind to win the first set and ultimately the match over Carlos Berlocq: 76 64.

Due to long running matches, Djokovic-Querrey has yet to be played despite being 10 PM at Indian Wells.  They’ll run late.  The winner has to play tomorrow as well, likely at night.