Murray passes Vesely test, Federer wins

Andy Murray, of Great Britain, chases down a hit by Jiri Vesely, of Czech Republic, during a third round match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Monday, March 10, 2014, in Indian Wells, Calif. AP

INDIAN WELLS—Two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray survived the determined challenge of young Czech Jiri Vesely to reach the fourth round of the Indian Wells ATP Masters on Monday.

Murray, formerly ranked world number two but currently sixth, had to rally in the second and third sets to defeat the 20-year-old, 77th-ranked Vesely 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, and the Scot dubbed it “a frustrating match.”

“Whether it was the beginning or the end, it was that sort of match where at no stage did either of us play well at the same time,” said Murray, who raced to a 3-0 lead but then withered after a break of serve boosted Vesely’s confidence.

“I started the match well, he started off the match badly. He missed a lot of easy shots, and then he started playing consistent, not making errors, and I started missing.”

Murray has been seeking a return to form after back surgery in September, but said his fitness and health weren’t a factor in his difficulties against Vesely.

The Scot was unable to serve out the first set at 5-4 and was broken six times by the Czech, who admitted that he lost his focus when he felt he had a chance to notch such a big win.

“It was mentally very, very hard to stay focused and to go point by point,” said Vesely, who saved three match points in the 10th game of the third set before his 11th double fault gave Murray a fourth chance.

Murray was happy to win, even if he wasn’t satisfied with his game.

“It’s good to have the chance to play another match here and hopefully put in a better performance,” he said.

Seventh-seeded Roger Federer, a four-time champion at Indian Wells, also booked his fourth-round berth with a 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/2) victory over 27th-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal was also in action on Monday, taking on Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The winner of that match will face Italian Fabio Fognini, who emerged with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 victory over France’s Gael Monfils — who double-faulted on two match points when serving for the contest at 5-4 in the third.

Li Na, the top seed in the women’s field of the $12 million combined WTA and ATP event, secured her fourth-round berth with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over unseeded Czech Karolina Pliskova.