By Chris Oddo | Saturay March 18, 2017
Roger Federer’s good times just keep rolling. The 35-year-old 18-time major champion reached the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells with a 6-1, 7-6(4) win over Jack Sock.
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Federer did not face a break point over the course of the 74-minute contest. He has only faced one break points and held serve in each of his 37 service games at Indian Wells this week.
“It was tough in the end,” said Federer. “I’m super happy to be in the finals.”
After rolling through the first set, Federer was pushed by Sock in the second. The American won 23 of 26 first-serve points and saved a break point in the second set, but he squandered a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker and dropped to 0-3 against Federer lifetime.
Federer has been difficult to stop on serve, and he explained why he thought this has been the case on the slow hardcourts at Indian Wells.
“I think conditions are helping the good servers,” said Federer. “The ones who can do good one-two punches. Big servers have a bit of an advantage because when the ball comes back it doesn’t come back super-quick—the surface stops it and you can set up your shot and really dominate nicely from the baseline.”
Aussie Nick Kyrgios was also unbroken and serving dominantly at Indian Wells, but he was forced to pull out of his highly anticipated quarterfinal with Federer due to food poisoning.
Earlier on Saturday, Stan Wawrinka breezed past Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta to book a spot in his first BNP Paribas Open final. The Swiss has dropped 19 of 22 against Federer lifetime, and he has never defeated his compatriot on a hard court.
This January, Federer slipped past Wawrinka in five sets at the Australian Open semifinals. Wawrinka rallied from two sets down to force a decider in that match, but fell in five sets.
Federer is a four-time BNP Paribas Open champion, but he has lost two straight finals in the California desert. He fell to Novak Djokovic in the final in 2014 and 2015. The Swiss will bid to tie Djokovic on the all-time Indian Wells title list with five on Sunday, and he will bid for his 25th Masters 1000 title.