Ageless Federer wins again
Texas title to Daniell
A rejuvenated Roger Federer beat fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka 6-4 7-5 yesterday to be crowned the oldest ever winner of Indian Wells.
The 35-year-old Swiss claimed his fifth title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells yeterday when he defeated the fellow Swiss.
Federer, who made a stunning return from a six-month injury layoff to win the Australian Open in January, capped an impressive run in the California desert in which he did not lose a set.
‘‘I have totally exceeded my expectations. My goal was to be top eight by Wimbledon. This is just a dream start,’’ Federer, who will climb four spots to world No 6, said courtside.
‘‘I understand the talk about [me getting back to] world No 1 with Andy [Murray] and Novak [Djokovic] not playing well and I’ll try to back it up. But this is my 90th [tour-level] title so I’ll try to enjoy this first.’’
The rematch of the Australian Open semifinal saw the close friends hold serve until the 10th game of the opening set when Federer, ahead 5-4, outlasted Wawrinka in a thrilling 21-shot rally for the service break.
Wawrinka, making his first appearance in an Indian Wells final, came out firing in the second set as he became the first player to break Federer at the tournament and then saved a pair of break points in the next game to move ahead 2-0.
But Federer never wavered as he coolly won the next three games and then broke Wawrinka in the 12th game to close out the match in 80 minutes.
On championship point, Federer jumped right on Wawrinka’s serve and quickly had his compatriot running back and forth along the baseline.
Finally, when Wawrinka reached out desperately to send a forehand back, Federer charged to the net and slammed down a running forehand to clinch the title.
While the defeat left Wawrinka an emotional wreck, with the teary-eyed US Open champion calling himself Federer’s ‘‘biggest fan’’, the popular champion was left to soak up a standing ovation.
Federer now joins Djokovic as a five-time winner at Indian Wells and becomes the oldest champion in the tournament’s history, surpassing Jimmy Connors who was 31 when he triumphed in 1984.
‘‘I was very sad when I couldn’t come here last year so just being New Zealand tennis player Marcus Daniell claimed the doubles title at the US$150,000 Irving Challenger in Dallas, Texas, yesterday.
Daniell, ranked 43rd in the world in doubles, combined with Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner to defeat top seeds Olivier Marach (Austria) and Fabrice Martin (France) 6-3 6-4, successfully converting two of their eight break point opportunities.
It was likely Daniell would see his ranking improve beyond his current high and possibly above New Zealand team-mate Michael Venus who was ranked 40th.
Daniell would now wait to see if he and Demoliner made the draw of the Miami Masters, which was set to start later this week. After that tournament, Daniell was set to play in the Wellington Open in the leadup to next month’s Davis Cup tie against Korea in Auckland.
here is a beautiful feeling,’’ Federer said during the trophy presentation.
‘‘It’s been just a fairytale week. I’m still on the comeback. I hope my body is going to allow me to keep on playing.
‘‘I came here for the first time 17 years ago so to be here again as the champion is an amazing feeling,’’ he said.
‘‘And I can’t tell you enough what it means to me.’’