By Chris Oddo | Wednesday March 14, 2018
Roger Federer braved the wind and subdued Jeremy Chardy in two tight sets to win his 60th BNP Paribas Open match.
Photo Source: Harry How/Getty
Roger Federer cruised to a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Jeremy Chardy to book his spot in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals for the tenth time. The 36-year-old Swiss improves to 15-0 on the season and 60-11 lifetime at Indian Wells. Federer has now won 60 or more matches at six different tournaments, and he is one victory from matching his best start to a season for his entire career.
In 2006 Federer opened at 16-0 before losing to Rafael Nadal in the Dubai final. He’ll go up against Hyeon Chung to tie that record in the quarterfinals. It’s a matchup that Federer relishes at this stage of the season. The pair faced one another in the Australian Open semifinals, with Chung eventually retiring due to a painful blister on his left foot, down 6-1, 5-2.
“I was honestly quite surprised how quickly he came back, you know. Because that thing looked nasty and it takes some time to heal,” said Federer. “So I hope he's okay now. He didn't come back too early. But he seems fine and he played a great match today. So, yeah, I'm excited to play against him tomorrow.”
Federer navigated the tricky conditions perfectly on Thursday to improve to 4-1 against Chardy. The Swiss has now won three straight against the Frenchman since falling to him in a third-set breaker at Rome in 2014 (he failed to convert a match point). He did not drop a point from his first-serve, winning all 25, and won 44 of 49 service points in total without facing a break point. It's just the sixth time in his career that Federer has not dropped a first-serve point in a match.
Still, Chardy hung close.
It wasn’t until he double-faulted on break point in the 11th game that Federer took control of the first set. And Chardy also was in the mix in the second set—he made it to 4-4 in the second set before yielding.
The pair collaborated on a magnificent point with Federer serving at 2-3, 40-0 in set two that featured a Chardy ‘tweener and a perfect lob-drop combo from Federer. He finished the point off with a drop volley, a difficult shot to play in the winds that plagued all players on Stadium 1 on Wednesday.
“I was just trying to mix it up and seeing what was working, but I think it was because of the swirly winds, in my opinion, that I was probably changing and because of Jeremy's, you know, just good protection of his own serve, to be honest. I think it was tough to return today,” Federer said.