Leaning on his Dunlop racquet as if it were a cane, Tommy Robredo looked like a man in dire need of a stunt double as he dragged his left leg behind him during the latter stages of his fourth-round clash with Sam Querrey. But Robredo persevered through the pain and put an emotionally-wounded Querrey out of his misery, 6-1, 6-3, to advance to the Indian Wells quarterfinals for the second straight year.
Stricken by what appeared to be a groin or left hamstring strain, Robredo’s status for a meeting with the resurgent Juan Martin del Potro or 32nd-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber is uncertain. Querrey’s competitive psyche was in even worse shape after another lackluster loss in which the normally laid-back Californian fought himself, fussed with his Prince frame and dissolved in a frenzy of errors.
The 25th-seeded Spaniard left the court to take treatment after suffering the injury while serving for a 3-2 second-set lead. Gritting his teeth and grimacing in pain through the next four games, the resourceful Robredo managed to subdue an out-of-sorts Querrey, who struggled to land shots between the lines throughout the match.
The 21st-seeded Querrey cracked eight aces and did not drop serve in his 7-5, 6-4 sweep of ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco on Tuesday night. Today, Querrey never looked completely comfortable. Locating the service box was about as easy as tossing a thumbtack through the center of a lifesaver for Querrey, who dumped six double-faults, dropped serve four times and won just 11 of 28 second-serve points.
Flailing a forehand to fall into a 0-3 first-set hole, Querrey placed his Prince racquet on the court and stepped on the strings as if trying to suppress the stream of errors. But that sort of sole searching did little to calm a cranky Querrey, who reportedly struggled with string issues in falling in the first round of the Australian Open. Robredo raced through the first set in 27 minutes.
Following the injury timeout, Robredo’s movement was compromised, yet he toughed it out and continued his habit of running around his backhand to fire his favored forehand. Unable to take advantage of his injured opponent, Querrey committed another of his 33 errors to hand Robredo the break and a 5-3 lead. He punctuated a mind-numbing game by slamming his racquet to the purple court with all the frustration of a man intent on decapitating the frame’s face from its throat.
The final game saw Robredo withstand a few 20-shot rallies and fight off a break point before closing out the one hour, 22-minute match on his second match point.
Finality did not fully answer all questions, as Robredo’s fitness is suspect following the injury. Meanwhile, a disconsolate Querrey gave a glimpse into his level of frustration by picking up his racquet bag yet leaving his frames behind.
—Richard Pagliaro