Indian Wells, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Americans Steve Johnson and Donald
Young were a pair of easy first-round winners Friday at the BNP Paribas Open.
The two-time NCAA singles champion Johnson doused Spaniard Marcel Granollers
6-2, 6-3, while the in-form left-hander Young cruised past Spain’s Pablo
Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 on the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Young has now won nine of his last 13 matches on tour, including a trip into a
final in Delray Beach last month.
An American setback came when Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky outlasted Sam
Querrey 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the California desert.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov handled Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-2,
7-5; German Michael Berrer topped the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella
Burgos 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Slovak Martin Klizan beat Spain’s Pablo Andujar 7-6
(7-4), 6-3; and Dutchman Igor Sijsling defeated Serb Filip Krajinovic 6-4,
3-6, 6-2 at this first Masters 1000 event of the year. Sijsling is rewarded
with a second-round match against former world No. 1 great Rafael Nadal.
This week’s top seeds are all members of the so-called “Big Four” — Novak
Djokovic, Roger Federer, Nadal and former runner-up Andy Murray. The three-
time champion Djokovic beat the four- time titlist Federer in last year’s
marquee final. Nadal, like Djokovic, also owns three Indian Wells titles.
The winner of this $5 million tournament will collect $900,400.
