Roger Federer will continue his Indian Wells campaign against Australian Open semifinal opponent Hyeon Chung on Thursday. The first day of quarterfinal action is also featuring a showdown between Kevin Anderson and Borna Coric.
(1) Roger Federer vs. (23) Hyeon Chung
It will be a rematch of an underwhelming Australian Open semifinal when Federer and Chung meet again in the quarters of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. Chung made an improbable run Down Under, but it ended in unceremonious fashion as he retired due to foot blisters while trailing Federer 6-1, 5-2. The 26-year-old South Korean missed half of February thereafter, but he returned to reach quarterfinals in Delray Beach and Acapulco. He now finds himself in the last eight of the Indian Wells Masters following defeats of Dusan Lajovic, Tomas Berdych, and Pablo Cuevas.
Based on both of his own play and how the rest of the tour is faring these days, Federer is looking like he might begin this season just as he did last one–with titles at the Australian Open, in Indian Wells, and also in Miami. The world No. 1 is a perfect 15-0 in 2018 and he has prevailed so far in the desert without donating a set to Federico Delbonis, Filip Krajinovic, and Jeremy Chardy. Federer has not been at his absolute best this week, but he generally raises his level when they competition gets tough–and it does just that in the form of a now-healthy Chung.
Pick: Federer in 2 losing 8-10 games
[polldaddy poll=9960247]
Borna Coric vs. (7) Kevin Anderson
Anderson and Coric will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday. All three of their previous encounters have gone the way of Anderson, who is 7-0 in total sets in this matchup with only one set having progressed to a tiebreaker. They most recently faced each other at the 2017 U.S. Open, where the 6’8” South African cruised 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Coric, though, is in the midst of perhaps the most impressive tournament of his career. The 21-year-old Croat is through to the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 for the third time ever (first in either Indian Wells or Miami) and has done so while dropping just a single set–to Taylor Fritz in the fourth round. Coric had previously surrendered no more than three games in any set against Donald Young, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and Roberto Bautista Agut. Anderson has advanced with victories over Evgeny Donskoy, Nicolas Kicker, and Pablo Carreno Busta–the latter in a third-set tiebreaker. The world No. 9 is an outstanding 14-3 this season with a title in New York and a runner-up performance in Acapulco. Anderson should have the edge once again over Coric, but this will undoubtedly be more competitive than their previous affairs based on the underdog’s current level.
Pick: Anderson in 3
[polldaddy poll=9960249]
I think Federer and Anderson will win.
Anderson in three,Fed in two tight
Chung wins by retirement
😂, R. Federer will win the title 👍.
Anderson just ran out of steam there, but all credit to Coric
Welp. It only took 8 minutes for me to conclude that Chung seemingly didn’t know what he was in for. And just like that, I have to admit I was wrong! Chung showed up to play, breaking back from 15-40.
Fed won the first three games. Then Chung won three straight. 3-3 now in the first set.
Fed breaks to take the first set 7-5. This is by far the best competition he has faced at this tournament thus far. Chung is real. He surely has a bright future. If Fed wasn’t serving so well in that first set, he wouldn’t have won it. We could be in for an epic match here. Wouldn’t be surprised to see it go 3!
Chung gave Fed a real workout in the first set, and Fed’s serve definitely helped him out. Chung had good chances to break at the beginning of the 2nd set, but after Fed held, he raised his game and Chung’s lowered.
Still, this was Fed’s biggest test of the tournament, and I’d be surprised if Coric is as tough. Coric doesn’t hit the ball with as much pace or depth as Chung. Although his serve is a bit better, he doesn’t have any big weapon. If Roger can beat Coric, then it seems very likely that he’ll hold the #1 ranking through the clay court season, and quite possibly be far ahead when the grass season starts.
Joe-
I could be wrong because I haven’t seen anyone else mention this, but my calculations show that if Federer wins Indian Wells and Rafa plays nothing until Monte Carlo, then Federer will be guaranteed to stay #1 until at least Rome, EVEN IF HE SKIPS MIAMI. This is because Rafa cannot gain any points until Rome, and he’s going to be losing Final points from Miami, too. So if I were Federer, and I managed to win IW, I would then skip Miami as it wouldn’t be required to keep #1, and then I decide to play one clay Masters and Roland Garros. Even if he only made the Quarters of those two tournaments, or even only 4th round, all points he gains during the clay season would be added to his point total because he’s not defending anything on clay. So that would only give him more cushion going into the grass season where he has to defend 2,500 points.
I know that many people are concerned about Rafa’s season now, but I am not one of those people. I personally thought he looked extremely good in Australia. I have faith that he will get back to good health after having such a long period of time to recover. And as long as he is healthy, I see no evidence of why he would not run the table on the entire clay season again. And who knows- he could even go a step further than last year and get the Rome title as well! And if Rafa gets back to ass-kicking form like he was last year, then Federer is going to want to give himself as much of a cushion as possible before grass without overplaying and injuring himself.
I understand that playing clay is very risky for Fed in terms of his health, as he made it clear that the clay in 2016 was hard on his knee/back. But I just feel like if he starts by playing just one clay Masters, he wouldn’t be risking too much. And sure, Fed definitely would not be favored to beat Rafa on clay if they faced each other, but aside from Rafa, I think he is still capable of beating all the other currently healthy players on clay. I could easily see someone like Thiem or Zverev knocking him off on clay, but Fed is also capable of beating them on clay if he played well. So while I wouldn’t choose Fed to win a clay Master or Roland Garros, I don’t see why he couldn’t go deep at them. And that would net him a good amount of points. The other key question is whether that would take too much out of him physically.
I can’t pretend to know what he will choose to do, but I don’t think it’s written in stone that he will definitely skip the whole clay season again. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did skip it again, as every tournament that a 36-37 year old makes it through, they are lucky to still be physically healthy. I don’t care who it is or what the competition looks like- a 37 year-old’s body will eventually break down…
I have been saying for some time now that after the retooled backhand it is near impossible for the baseline grinders like Djokovic or Chung to take Roger out ……. http://www.138mph.com/indian-wells-tennis-roger-federer-overpowers-hyeon-chung-for-a-meeting-with-borna-coric-in-the-semis/