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Federer will play Djokovic in semifinals
Associated Press
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.
Roger Federer defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the BNP Paribas Open semfinals on Friday, setting up a showdown with Novak Djokovic for the world’s No. 2 ranking.
Federer is second behind Rafael Nadal in the ATP rankings, and Djokovic is third. Djokovic beat Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-4 to improve to 16-0 this year and put himself in position to surpass Federer in the rankings.
Federer is 18-2 this year, with one tournament win in Doha. Djokovic won titles at the Australia Open and Dubai.
Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro will play in today’s other semifinal. Between them, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have won six of the last seven finals at Indian Wells. Federer is a three-time champion, Nadal has won twice and Djokovic once.
Federer met little resistance against Wawrinka in their all-Swiss quarterfinal. He improved to 8-1 in his career against Wawrinka, with whom he teamed later to play a doubles semifinal against Nadal and Marc Lopez.
Djokovic has also been on a roll during the two-week tournament, losing 12 games in eight sets.
“Confidence plays a very important role in the life of a tennis player. So if you can roll on that run and try to use that confidence you can have a lot of success and you can really play well,” he said.
“I do feel really comfortable on the court and am trying to use that confidence because I know that it can easily change. It’s a very mental game.”
On the women’s side, 15th-seed Marion Bartoli became the first Frenchwoman to reach the singles final at Indian Wells, defeating No. 23 seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 6-3.
She’ll play either top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki or No. 16 Maria Sharapova, who played in an late semifinal.
Against Wickmayer, Bartoli was still feeling the effects of a stomach bug that bothered her earlier in the week.
“My level dropped after the first set because still not able to fully eat normally before the match, so I didn’t have many fuel into my body to hang on,” she said.