Davidovich ends Garin’s Indian Wells dream, knocks him out in fourth round

The brilliant victory over Casper Ruud in the third round of Indian Wells put Christian Garin (97th ATP) back into the orbit of the great ATP circuit. What was shown in the Californian Masters 1000 raised high expectations for what he could do in the top 16 phase. against the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (28th) a player somewhat removed from the classic Hispanic school, but with a fairly aggressive tennis on hard courts which is a lot for the national, which ended up falling 6-3 and 6-4.

The Chilean, of course, has his thing (he still does), and one of the notable improvements he’s seen in the United States is in his plan of attack, with an increasingly flowing forehand and the return of his cross backhand as his most characteristic shot , aspects on which he worked conscientiously during this second stage with the Argentinian Andrés Schneiter as coach and which stood out in the North American desert. However, He lacked the finesse of the previous match and ended up paying dearly for it.

The beginning was difficult for the man born in Arica, because from the start he had to deal with the pace offered by his rival. Two unforced errors cost him the first break of the match in the fourth game. From then on, the Malagan took control of the set. His deep and powerful strikes made the country’s number two too complicated who dropped out of service again in the sixth Games. Sure, in the next he managed to claw back one of the breaks and put some more justice on the scoreboard, but he couldn’t avoid losing the first set in 40 minutes.

The second-round mission was logically to reduce the number of unforced errors and find a formula that would allow him to complicate the Spaniard, who kept hitting everything he threw towards the lines, but that momentum was cut in the sixth game. Three unforced errors allowed Garin to break and go ahead for the first time in the match. This joy was short-lived, however, as Davidovich immediately recovered the break.

With both tennis players playing on the edge and delivering notable points, the emotion shifted to the second-round result, which was defined by small details, and these favored the European, who with great determination he came out to attack the national player’s serve in the ninth Games . He did it with a firm wrist and plenty of depth, winning most rallies and hitting the long-awaited break of serve. Then, without major inconvenience, he crowned his passage to the quarter-finals with his serve.

Despite the loss, Garin has several reasons to be calm. First, he regained confidence in his shots and realized he could compete at a high level again. Besides, delivered his best performance at Indian Wells from qualifying and obtained a significant promotion in the classification which This will leave him very close to the top 80 in the world.