Slice is right as Federer rolls on

ROGER Federer powered past No. 25 seed Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-1 in pursuit of a record sixth BNP Paribas Open title in Indian Wells yesterday.

Federer improved to 65-5 since returning from a left knee injury last year with his third-round victory in a rare day match. The Swiss star’s young son, Lenny, watched from a box wearing a Superman cap.

What he saw was his 36year-old father overcome a shaky first set in which there were four breaks of serve. Federer hit a running forehand passing shot to break at love and take the set 6-2.

Federer cruised to a 3-0 lead in the second and closed out the win in 58 minutes.

“I was playing aggressive and feeling like he was not loving my slice,” said world No. 1 Federer. “I was able to mix up my game nicely, make it difficult for him.” Sloane Stephens, the 13th seed, lost to No. 20 Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-4, 6-3, and fell to 2-4 in matches this year.

“I mean, not going to be too down about it,” Stephens said. “There’s always next week and the week after.”

Kasatkina has beaten all four of the current grand slam champions in the past year: French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, Australian Open winner Caroline Wozniacki, Wimbledon winner Garbine Muguruza and now Stephens.

Stephens lost in the first rounds at the Australian Open and in Sydney before reaching the quarter-finals at Acapulco.