Federer cruises after quake drama
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 13, 2013
Defending champion Roger Federer beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-1 in a third-round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Monday, with the Swiss star tweaking his back near the end of the match.
Federer earned his 890th career ATP Tour victory, joining Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Guillermo Vilas as the only men to have won at least that many matches in the Open era. The second-ranked Swiss star is seeking his first tournament title of the year.
Top-ranked and defending women's champion Victoria Azarenka rallied to beat 28th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0..
A 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck at 9:55am local time near Indian Wells. It occurred before the day's matches had begun, although the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was busy with fans and workers, many of whom felt a jolt.
Federer ran out of the house where he's staying during the tournament. "I didn't know how long it was going to last, if it was going to get worse from there, or if the worst was already past," he said.
Fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal was on the massage table preparing for his third-round match against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina when the quake hit.
"I was very scared," he said. "I think the massage table moves even worse."
After the excitement caused by the quake, Nadal didn't even get to play his match. Mayer withdrew because of a back injury.
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