Raonic, Federer, Murray advance at Indian Wells; Li Na also moves on

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Canada’s Milos Raonic defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France on Saturday to advance to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open

The No. 10 ranked Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., had 33 aces to edge Roger-Vasselin 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (2).

Roger Federer and Andy Murray won their opening matches and top-seeded Li Na beat Chinese countrywoman Zheng Jie 6-1, 7-5 on Saturday in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Federer, the four-time champion seeded seventh, beat French qualifier Pail-Henri Mathieu, and the fifth-seeded Murray regrouped to top Lukas Rosol 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Kevin Anderson and Tommy Haas also moved into the third round. Anderson spoiled two-time tournament champion Lleyton Hewitt’s bid for his 600th career match win, topping the Australian 7-6 (5), 6-4. Haas, who will be 36 on April 3, rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jeremy Chardy.

Mikhail Youzhny, seeded 14th, withdrew because of a back injury.

Murray reached the final in 2009, but has mostly struggled in the event.

“I think it’s important sometimes to think about it, because when you’re not expecting it to happen and then it does, that’s when it can kind of take you by surprise and you might panic a little bit or worry,” Murray said. “But I don’t feel like (that happened) today. I was a set and a break down. I got broken three times in a row the end of the first set, beginning of the second. I just kind of kept going and found a way to win, which is always the most important thing.”

Li is playing her second event since winning the Australian Open.

“This is the first match after Doha, two weeks, and of course for I cannot be 100 per cent for the first match,” Li said. “But I was happy. At least I can learn something from today’s match.”

Li will face Karolina Pliskova, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over No. 28 Klara Zakopalova.

Eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova, No. 11 Ana Ivanovic and No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova also won early matches.

In first-round doubles action, Toronto’s Daniel Nestor and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic beat Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina and Marin Cilic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 10-8.