World No 2 Roger Federer, chasing a record fifth ATP Indian Wells Masters title, cruised past Canada's Milos Raonic 7-5, 6-4 to reach the ATP 1000 event final on Saturday.
The ageless Federer has been in top form the past two weeks and made quick work of world No 6 Raonic as he now goes for a shot at reclaiming the top overall world ranking.
“When we play it’s always going to come down to a few points here and there, a few backhands down the line and good serving,” Federer said of facing Raonic.
The Swiss star next meets world No 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, who eliminated Andy Murray in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in the first semi-final.
Federer, 33, leads the tournament with four titles having won in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012. But Djokovic beat him 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in last year’s championship match.
Federer improved to 16-1 this year with his only loss coming against Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open in January.
He avenged that defeat in the third round at Indian Wells, beating Seppi 6-3, 6-4. He had needed just 69 minutes to advance to the semis by ousting Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-0.
Federer also stopped American Jack Sock 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth round and Diego Schwartzman in his opening match 6-4, 6-2.
Federer clinched Saturday’s semi-final with a forehand volley at the net into the open court that Raonic tried in vain to chase down.
Federer needed just 86 minutes to overpower the hard-serving Raonic, blasting five aces, 15 winners and breaking him twice.
He had no double faults and made just 11 unforced errors, limiting Raonic to just nine aces.
“I did very well. In the first set I scrambled out a lot of balls,” said Federer.
“In the second set I was happy to get the early break and then rolled from there.”
The 24-year-old Raonic was coming off one of the biggest wins of his career. He saved three match points to upset world No 3 Rafael Nadal for the first time on Friday.
That win was not only his first in six tries over the Spaniard but it spoiled the prospects of a semi-final lineup featuring tennis’s Big Four.
Raonic met Federer for the first time three years ago in Indian Wells where he managed to win the first set before dropping the next two.
But this time Federer was ready for the blistering serves from the Canadian, who averaged 15 aces through his first three matches. The serve and thundering forehand are Raonic’s two biggest weapons and Federer snatched those away.
“He was neutralising well on the serve, but especially during the points when I felt like a few times I was able to stretch him,” said Raonic, who came into Indian Wells after helping Canada beat Japan in the Davis Cup.
“He was doing a good job of always playing a deep cross so I could never find that short forehand I was looking for.”
Djokovic meanwhile advanced with a ruthless demolition of Murray.
“I just played solid with the right intensity from the beginning,” said Djokovic. “We have similar styles. Even though it was straight sets I had to earn it.”
The Serb star clinched the 1hr 28mins match on the Tennis Garden stadium court when Murray hit a backhand into the net.
Djokovic hit one ace, hammered 27 winners and broke Murray’s serve four times.
Britain’s Murray made 29 unforced errors and had four double faults.
“I expected a battle with Andy but he wasn’t on the high quality he usually is,” Djokovic said. “He made a lot of unforced errors today.”
Saturday’s contest was a re-match of this year’s Australian Open final which Djokovic won in four sets.
Djokovic said he had to change his pre-match routine for this one because it was his first day match in so long.
For that reason he said he was a bit concerned going into a match against a top five player on a fast hardcourt surface in the hot southern California sun.
“This was my first day match the entire year and 90 per cent of my matches are played at night,” he said. “But I thought I handled the conditions well.”
Djokovic extended his match win streak over Murray to six straight and has won 17 of 25 career contests between the two.
Murray saved three match points but he was unable to break Djokovic’s serve and get on any kind of win streak.
Murray said he got off to a slow start and then couldn’t get his serve up and running.
“I wasn’t feeling sluggish,” he said. “He didn’t make many errors. I didn’t serve so well today compared to how I served in the rest of the tournament.
“That makes things difficult against the best players. Novak didn’t give me any free points at the beginning of either set.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
