Sock wins another 3-set match
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Jack Sock is getting quite the workout at the BNP Paribas Open, with all four of his matches stretching to three sets on his way to the semifinals.
The 24-year-old American notched his biggest singles victory yet with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Kei Nishikori on Friday. Sock finally broke through against a top-five ranked opponent after losing his first seven matches against such competition.
“The doubters in the past can’t really say much anymore,” he said. “I actually feel almost stronger as the tournament has gone on.”
Sock will need to keep up his strength for his semifinal against four-time Indian Wells champion Roger Federer. He lost to Federer in straight sets in the fourth round of the 2015 tournament.
“When I played him here last and I played him in Basel a couple years ago, I don’t think I went on the court giving myself a ton of chances of winning. That’s changed, for sure,” Sock said. “I am playing confident tennis as well. If I go out there and play the right tennis and play the right strategy, I can give myself a shot.”
Federer advanced when Nick Kyrgios withdrew with what the Australian suspected was food poisoning.
No. 14 Elena Vesnina advanced to the women’s final with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 28th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic.
Vesnina raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set and then dropped three straight games before serving out the first set. In the second set, she built a 5-1 lead and again lost three games in a row before closing out the victory on her serve.
Vesnina beat No. 2 Angelique Kerber in the fourth round and No. 13 Venus Williams in the quarterfinals. At age 30, she has reached the biggest final of her career.
In the other semifinal, No. 3 Karolina Pliskova met No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Sock improved to 15-2 and has won titles at Auckland and Delray Beach, Florida, this year. He is the top-ranked U.S. men’s player.
“The mental side of it is probably the biggest difference so far this year,” he said. “The matches I have been winning this year, especially this tournament, I probably wouldn’t have been winning year and a half, two years ago.”
Sock overcame four match points against 12th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the third round and was two points from losing against Malek Jaziri in the third set before he pulled out a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 fourth-round victory.
Nishikori had not dropped a set in the tournament until losing the first against Sock. Nishikori, ranked fifth, had won seven straight matches against American opponents.
“I was having really tough time with my return, missing a lot, and giving him a lot of short balls,” Nishikori said. “He was attacking really well, first and third sets. Little, lazy mistakes for me. Too many unforced errors, especially in the third to give him too many chances to break.”
Federer got an unexpected day off after Kyrgios withdrew less than two hours before they were to take the court. The Aussie tweeted that he “had a restless night of being sick.”
He said “to play a great champion like Roger, I need to be at my best to have a chance.”