Written by Giovanni Vianello
Beneath the usual shining sun of Indian Wells, Roger Federer overcame home favourite Jack Sock 6-1, 7-6(4) to book a final showdown against compatriot Stan Wawrinka on Sunday.
It was a typical setting for a Federer match with an army of fans cheering him on. Even the fact he was playing an American player failed to curb the love shown to the Swiss player by the Californian crowd. Federer’s repaid the warm welcome with an impressive display as the supremacy of his shot-making wore down the threat of Sock’s power. A total of 27 winners from the Swiss player raced past his rival, who was playing in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time. Even a late Sock surge failed to spoil the inevitable outcome of the match.
The first set featured a dominating performance by the 18-time Grand Slam champion. Starting with Federer serving; the first three games looked like a warm-up, each player holds serve to 30. From that point the Swiss started to outplay the American, finding the pace with his backhand and serving tremendously well. Federer broke Sock twice in a row and in the seventh game held his serve to love with three aces in the game, rewarding him the 6-1 set.
The second set was more balanced, but Federer managed to come out shining in the tiebreaker. During the first games of set No.2, the level of the match (mainly due to Federer) lowered, but no breakpoint is seen until the score reaches the 4-4 with Sock serving. At this point, the American, after having led 40-15, goes down of an advantage in the score of the game, but then, with three good serves, goes up 5-4 as the proceedings went into a tiebreaker.
In the breaker, Sock initially goes up 3-1, but afterwards Federer recovers to 3-3 and eventually goes up 5-4 with two serves at his disposal. The match then ends two points later after a dismal sock backhand failed to go over the net.
. The Swiss tennis king was in a modest mood following his semifinal triumph, admitting that Sock wasn’t playing his best tennis during parts of the match.
“He played a shocker of a first set. I mean I played well, but he didn’t really have a good serve, good baseline. He was missing all sorts.” Federer told Sky Sports.
Federer will now play in his seventh Indian Wells final, where he will play compatriot Wawrinka. Sunday’s all-Swiss clash will be the 23rd meeting between Federer and Wawrinka. The match-up between the two in an intriguing one. On the hard-court’s Federer has defeated his Davis Cup teammate in all of their 14 clashes on the tour. Meanwhile, Wawrinka is the current US Open champion.
“I think it’s going to be really tough.” Said Federer. “Stan has got the power and Stan has the variety to make it difficult. He is the reigning US Open champion so in America on the hard-courts he’s great.”
Federer will play in his 45th Masters 1000 final on Sunday with the hope of winning title No.90 on the ATP Tour.
