Indian Wells, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Four-time champion Roger Federer was
an easy quarterfinal winner Friday at the $5.3 million BNP Paribas Open.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 great handled ninth-seeded Czech Tomas
Berdych 6-4, 6-0 in 68 minutes at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Federer broke
Berdych four times, while the big Czech was unable to break the Swiss legend
and committed five double faults.
Federer is now 13-6 lifetime versus the former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych,
who had won five of their previous nine meetings.
The 33-year-old Federer titled here from 2004-06 and again in 2012 and was
last year’s runner-up to Novak Djokovic.
The 17-time Grand Slam champ Federer’s semifinal opponent on Saturday will be
third-seeded former No. 1 Rafael Nadal or sixth-seeded Canadian slugger Milos
Raonic. The French Open king Nadal is a three-time Indian Wells champ and
was the 2011 runner-up to Djokovic in the California desert.
Saturday’s other semifinal will pit the current world No. 1 Djokovic against
fourth-seeded Andy Murray in a rematch of January’s Australian Open final,
which was won by the Serbian stalwart.
Djokovic is a dominant 16-8 lifetime versus Murray, including a victory over
the Scot in a semi here at Indian Wells in 2007.
The reigning Aussie Open and Wimbledon champ Djokovic won this event for a
third time last year when he topped Federer in a marquee finale. The Serb
was also a runner-up in 2007 against Nadal.
Murray was the 2009 Indian Wells runner-up to Nadal.
The winner of the first ATP Masters event of the season will claim $900,400.
