Federer advances, hits 15-0 for year
Roger Federer defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 6-4 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday in Indian Wells (Riverside County), and at 15-0, the world’s top-ranked men’s player is off to his best start since 2006.
The 36-year-old can equal his season-best start of 16-0 with a win in the quarterfinals, in which he will meet Chung Hyeon of South Korea in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal.
“This might be the last day, so we’ll see,” Federer said, smiling. “Don’t jinx it.”
He advanced to the final in Melbourne when Chung retired in the second set trailing 6-1, 5-2 because of blisters on his left foot. Federer then beat Marin Cilic for his 20th Grand Slam title.
Chung beat 30th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-1, 6-3.
Simona Halep, the world’s top-ranked woman, reached the semis, topping Petra Martic of Croatia 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3.
Champions League: 100 goals for Messi
Lionel Messi joined Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League’s 100-goal club after scoring twice to lead Barcelona past Chelsea and into the quarterfinals for an 11th straight season. Messi also set up Ousmane Dembele in a 3-0 win at Camp Nou after he had scored Barcelona’s goal in the opening-leg 1-1 draw in London.
Ronaldo, with 117 goals, is the only other player to reach the century mark in Europe’s elite club competition.
Bayern Munich easily advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals for the seventh straight year with a 3-1 win at Besiktas, giving Bayern an 8-1 win on aggregate.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice in the first half as 10man Paris Saint-Germain beat visiting Angers 2-1 to take another step toward the French league title. Skiing: Sofia Goggia and Lindsey Vonn each had something to celebrate when their season-long rivalry in downhill concluded in Are, Sweden. Goggia followed her Olympic downhill gold by claiming the season-long World Cup title in the discipline. Vonn narrowly beat Goggia to win the race at World Cup finals and record career victory No. 82.
On the men’s side, Beat Feuz beat Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal to take his first career downhill title. Motor sports: Lowe’s, the retail home-improvement and appliance-store chain, said it will end its sponsorship of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson at the end of the season and leave NASCAR. Johnson made his Cup debut in 2001. Swimming: Stanford’s 800yard freestyle relay team — anchored by five-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky — placed first in 6:46.93 on Day 1 of the NCAA championships in Columbus, Ohio.
Katie Drabot, Ella Eastin and Brooke Forde also swam for the Cardinal, who won their 10th national title in the event.
Defending champ Stanford leads the event with 40 points.