Federer chasing more glory at Indian Wells
ROGER FEDERER defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 64 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday, and at 15-0, the world’s topranked men’s player is off to his best start since 2006.
The 36-year-old Swiss superstar can equal his seasonbest start of 16-0 with a win in the quarter-finals, where he will meet Chung Hyeon of South Korea i n a rematch of their Australian Open semi-final.
“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, 52 because of blisters on his left foot. Federer went on to win a five-set final against Marin Cilic for his 20th Grand Slam title.
Chung, seeded 23rd at Indian Wells, beat 30th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-1, 6-3.
“I was honestly quite surprised how quickly he came back,” Federer said. “Because that thing looked nasty, and it takes some time to heal. But he seems fine, and he played a great match today. So I’ m excited to play against him.”
Federer is chasing a record sixth title in the desert.
Against Federer, Chardy played a tough first set in windy conditions that persisted throughout the day. Federer earned the only break in the 11th game and then served a love game to take the set.
Federer again took the only break in the second set to go up 5-4. His forehand pulled Chardy completely off the cour t, and Federer hit a crosscourt backhand winner off Chardy’s return. Federer served his fifth love game of the match to close it out.
Chardy committed 46 unforced errors to 29 f or Federer, who won 90 percent of his total service points.
Against Cuevas, Chung dominated in racing to a 6-1, 50 lead before Cuevas fought off seven match points to break back in the sixth game. Cuevas then broke Chung again to close to 5-3, but the Korean closed out the win.