TENNIS MASTER 1000 IW – Ryan Harrison had to fight hard to edge Mardy Fish 6-4 4-6 7-6 after two hours and 36 minutes in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, the first of the nine Master 1000 Tournaments. Fish made his come-back from a long break of three years from the ATP circuit due to a debilitating heart condition and serious anxiety disorder. Diego Sampaolo
Fish, who was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells in 2008, made his emotional come-back from three years of absence and he came close to what would have been a fairytale win against Harrison in his first match since he retired from the third round in Winston Salem Open2013 after a difficult period in which he suffered from heart problems and a severe anxiety disorder.
The first set went on serve until the fifth game when Harrison broke serve to love but Fish broke straight back in the next game for 3-3. Harrison broke again to take the 4-3 lead and held serve without problems to pull away to 5-3. Fish won the ninth game for 4-5 but Harrison served out to clinch the first set with 6-4.
Fish failed to convert on three break points and Harrison drew level to 4-4. Fish did not face any problems to hold his serve and took the 5-4 lead. In the 10th game Fish went up 40-15 and earned two set points. Harrison saved the first set point but committed a costly double fault on the second chance and Fish drew level by winning the second set with 6-4.
Harrison broke serve in the third game of the decider to take a 2-1 lead. Fish held his serve in the fifth game for 2-3. While serving 4-3 Harrison committed two forehand errors and faced tow break-back points at 15-40 but he managed to hold his serve with his service winner and his backhand.
Fish broke serve after a 10-minute hard-fought game at deuce
Fish earned two match points at 15-40 in the 10th game of the third set. Both players held serve to force the match to the tie-break where Harrison reeled off three points in a row to open up a 5-2 lead. Harrison earned a match point after a double fault made by Fish and wrapped up up the match with an ace.
The Minnesota native player turned pro in 2000 and won the Olympic silver medal for years later in Athens. He achieved his career-high of Number 7 after reaching the quarter finals at Wimbledon in 2011 and qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time in his career. However he was awoken in the middle of the night in Miami in 2012 as his heart raced violently after losing a match to Juan Monaco. The heart palpitations were so intense, that he thought he would not survive. He was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia. He underwent a procedure to correct faulty electrical connections in his heart. This condition caused him anxiety attacks every 15-30 minutes
“It’s probably the only one I would have been able to start with, since it’s close to home. It’s been a good three and a half months now that I have worked my butt off to get back into tennis shape. It’s satisfying because it’s hard work. I didn’t practice much for about a year, but tennis has never left me. I have worked really hard in the past three and a half years to get back into shape. I don’t have any issues during or after a match. I worked extremely hard to put myself in the best position to not have to worry about things when I was there”, said Fish
In the other first round matches Marcos Baghdatis was leading 6-3 1-1 when young Czech rising star Jiri Vesely withdrew. Vesely was broken five times and won only 39 percent of his first serve points. Baghdatis continues his good period of form after the third round at the Australian Open and the semifinal in Zagreb. The player from Cyprus, former Australian Open finalist, will take on Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Vasek Pospisil was leading against Mikhail Kukushkin (winner last weekend in the Davis Cup with Kazakhstan against Italy last week-end) with 6-4 4-2 when the Kazakh withdrew. In the second round Pospisil will take on Andy Murray who recently hired Bjorkman.
Davis Cup her Federico Delbonis, who won the 3-2 final point for Argentina last week against Brazil in Buenos Aires, beat Dusan Lajovic 6-4 6-3.
Adrian Mannarino beat Misha Zverev (older brother of German rising star Aleksander Zverev) 6-4 6-4 to set up a second round match against Fabio Fognini. At last year’s US Open Mannarino beat Fognini 6-3 6-4 6-1. Young Croatian rising Borna Coric beat Austrian Andreas Haider Mauer 6-4 6-4. Another emerging talent Thanasi Kokkinakis overcame German Jan Struff 7-6 (7-3) 6-3. Juan Monaco edged Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 3-6 6-3.