And then there were two. The Indian Wells men’s singles title will come down to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on Sunday. Both are coming off convincing semifinal victories.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be squaring off for the 38th time in their careers when they collide in a second consecutive BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday afternoon.
After a relative drought of head-to-head meetings from the end of 2012 to the end of 2013, this will be their 10th encounter in the last 17 months. The stretch already includes one Indian Wells title match, in which Djokovic prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) last season. Federer, though, leads the overall series 20-17 and most recently scored a 6-3, 7-5 victory to lift the trophy in Dubai. The Swiss has won two in a row over Djokovic dating back to last fall and is 15-13 in the rivalry on hard courts.
Both men have been outstanding–and also somewhat fortunate–this fortnight. Djokovic’s run to the final included a quarterfinal walkover past Bernard Tomic, although it’s hard to imagine the top-ranked Serb would have been seriously troubled in that one. Djokovic has not dropped a set in wins at the expense of Marcos Bagahdatis, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, John Isner, and Andy Murray.
Federer appeared in be in line for a semifinal showdown against nemesis Rafael Nadal, but the Spaniard squandered three match points against Milos Raonic and lost 4-6, 7-6(10), 7-5. The big-serving Canadian was promptly disposed of 7-5, 6-4. Federer has also defeated Diego Schwartzman, Andreas Seppi, Jack Sock, and Tomas Berdych without even being pushed to a tiebreaker.
“I’m very happy (with) how well I’m playing,” the world No. 2 assured. “I’m serving well, which is always crucial. I played great in Dubai; great again this week.”
Unfortunately for Federer, he is not as dominant in the desert as he is in Dubai, where conditions suit him perfectly. A somewhat slow court in Indian Wells will help Djokovic turn the contest into more of a baseline war of attrition. Given the way the No. 1 seed is playing defense from the back of the court and turning it into offense, Federer will have trouble keeping points short. That being said, this should be another competitive three-setter.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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Djoker smashing his racquet again.
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Congrats to me
hahaha..Congratulations Ricky! We must recognize your visionary capabilities 🙂
deep inside I knew Novak would win but I hoped for Fed to make it competitive…I wanted them both to kill each other on court…too bad Fed could not sustain the level, although that as well was expected…
Well done Nole. Looked more like relief than joy at the end.
Nole’s solid play in the first set made the difference. Poor third set. Quality really dropped. First set was amazing. Love watching this matchup though. Federer only stands a chance when Nole’s confidence wavers. Fed ran out of juice in the third and Nole did just enough to hold on.
Congratulations to me! I got it right, Novak in three sets!
It was a fun match to watch. I think Fed did well to come back and win the second set tb, with a lot of help from Novak. You don’t often see him giving back-to-back double faults! But he regrouped nicely and came out playing well in the third set.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank myself
Novak will pass Roger for Masters titles this year and Rafa next year. Did anybody catch that abomination of a WTA final? I swear they should never combine men’s and women’s events. EVER!
Horrifying
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I agree that the women’s final was awful. At one point they showed the UE’s for both players and I think it was a combined total of about 80! Something really outrageous! To me it was everything that’s wrong with women’s tennis these days. It was like who would be the last to get the break and finally win the match.