Flawless FedEx
Swiss world No. 1 stretches 2018 winning start to 16-0
INDIAN WELLS: World No. 1 Roger Federer equalled his best start to a season to stay on course for a sixth Indian Wells title, while Borna Coric brushed aside a shaky first set to reach the semifinals.
Federer booked his semifinal spot and extended his season win streak to 16 straight matches with a 75, 61 victory over South Korea’s Chung Hyeon on Thursday.
That equals the 160 start to the 2006 ATP calendar season. If he makes it to Sunday’s final and wins he will reach a career best 17 consecutive wins.
Switzerland’s Federer recalls parts of that streak but not all the tournaments he played in to get there.
“Twelve years ago, a long time ago. I don’t know. What was I doing back then?” he asked. “I don’t even remember what tournament I played first up and won.
“I guess I had a similar good start to the year. Back then I was on this massive streak of winning 30, 40plus matches. It had already started the year before that, which this time it didn’t. I had to get it going again in Australia.
“It’s a great start. Hopefully I can do one more and beat my best streak on Saturday.”
Federer put on an impressive display of serving and shot making, winning 70 percent of his first serve points against Hyeon. He had just one double fault and broke Chung’s serve four times in the one hour, 23 minute main stadium match.
“I’m happy I found a way. I started off really well, struggled afterwards, found my game back again and was able to protect it, saving big break points early on in the second set,” Federer said.
“I think that was the key to the match, those 10, 15 minutes where I broke at the end of the first and then saved break points in the second.”
Federer clinched the victory on his second match point when he blasted his 12th and final ace of the contest.
He next faces Croatian Coric who outlasted seventh seeded Kevin Anderson 26, 64, 76 (73).