Roger Federer continued his sizzling form on Saturday to set up an all-Swiss final against Stan Wawrinka at the BNP Paribas Open in California.
Federer did not face a break point in his semi-final 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Jack Sock of the US on the hard courts at Indian Wells.
Less than two months after claiming the 18th Grand Slam title of his career at the Australian Open, ninth seed Federer delivered another virtuoso performance.
Photo: AFP
He ripped through the first set against 17th seed Sock in barely 20 minutes, before the American regrouped to make the second more competitive.
With both players holding serve, the set went to a tiebreak, in which Federer prevailed in front of a sun-baked crowd of 16,000 that included Rod Laver and Bill Gates.
“Overall, I played a good match, struggled a bit in the second set, but Jack got into it,” 35-year-old Federer said in a court-side interview. “It was tough in the end. I don’t think I played the best tiebreaker, but it was enough to get through and I’m super happy to be in the final.”
Photo: AFP
Wawrinka was even more dominant in the other semi, demolishing Spanish 21st seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2.
Federer has a 19-3 career record against Wawrinka and has never lost to his compatriot on a hard court.
They met most recently at the Australian Open, where Federer prevailed in five sets in the semi-finals.
With Federer winning the Australian Open and Wawrinka claiming last year’s US Open, yesterday’s final brought together the two most recent Grand Slam champions.
Federer said Wawrinka would present a different type of challenge than Sock.
“Jack tries to really come over the ball and create a lot of top-spin, whereas Stan blocks his first-serve return usually,” Federer said. “He’s very steady off the baseline and can play from really deep in the court. I’ve got to play aggressive and play like I’ve been doing all week, and hope it’s enough.”
Wawrinka earned his first Indian Wells final in style.
He broke Carreno Busta three times and never faced a break point.
“I mixed a lot of speed and spin,” Wawrinka said. “It’s not always easy here. I was mixing it up, so it was not easy for him to find a solution.”
It was a much easier victory for Wawrinka than his fourth-round match against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, who came within two points of an upset.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB