Federer Survives Scare, to Face Del Potro in Indian Wells Final
PARIBAS (Reuters) - World number one Roger Federer survived a scare from unseeded Borna Coric to beat him 5-7 6-4 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open and set up a final showdown with Juan Martin del Potro who cruised to a 6-2 6-3 win over Milos Raonic.
The victory kept Federer's hopes of winning a record sixth Indian Wells title alive but first he will have to get past the big-hitting Argentine, who got the better of the Swiss in the U.S. Open quarter-finals in September.
The partisan crowd erupted when Federer broke Coric at love to take the deciding set and end the unexpectedly competitive two hour twenty minute battle against the 21-year-old Croatian on a windy morning in the California desert.
An upset was on the cards when the speedy Coric used his ferocious backhand to take the first set off the Swiss, the first time defending champion Federer had dropped a set at Indian Wells in nine matches.
He then broke Federer to start the second set and silence the stunned crowd, which included Hall of Famers Rod Laver and Pete Sampras.
But despite playing below his usual standards, the 20-times grand slam champion was able to eke out victory by finding his serving rhythm and winning the biggest points of the match as nerves finally caught up with Coric.
Del Potro's one-sided win lacked the drama of the earlier match as Canadian Raonic put up little fight against the Argentine's powerful serve and punishing forehand in a contest that lasted just over an hour.
Del Potro won nearly 90 percent of his first service points and converted four of his five break point opportunities against Raonic, who never created a break point against the towering Argentine.
The victory kept Federer's hopes of winning a record sixth Indian Wells title alive but first he will have to get past the big-hitting Argentine, who got the better of the Swiss in the U.S. Open quarter-finals in September.
The partisan crowd erupted when Federer broke Coric at love to take the deciding set and end the unexpectedly competitive two hour twenty minute battle against the 21-year-old Croatian on a windy morning in the California desert.
An upset was on the cards when the speedy Coric used his ferocious backhand to take the first set off the Swiss, the first time defending champion Federer had dropped a set at Indian Wells in nine matches.
He then broke Federer to start the second set and silence the stunned crowd, which included Hall of Famers Rod Laver and Pete Sampras.
But despite playing below his usual standards, the 20-times grand slam champion was able to eke out victory by finding his serving rhythm and winning the biggest points of the match as nerves finally caught up with Coric.
Del Potro's one-sided win lacked the drama of the earlier match as Canadian Raonic put up little fight against the Argentine's powerful serve and punishing forehand in a contest that lasted just over an hour.
Del Potro won nearly 90 percent of his first service points and converted four of his five break point opportunities against Raonic, who never created a break point against the towering Argentine.