World No. 1 Roger Federer survived a scare from unseeded Borna Coric before beating him 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a BNP Paribas Open semifinal on Saturday and set up a showdown with Juan Martin del Potro who cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Milos Raonic.
The victory kept Federer’s hopes of winning a record sixth Indian Wells title alive but first he will have to get past the big-hitting Argentine, who got the better of the Swiss in the U.S. Open quarterfinals in September.
An upset was on the cards when the speedy Coric used his ferocious backhand to take the first set off the Swiss, the first time defending champion Federer had dropped a set at Indian Wells in nine matches.
Nerves catch up
But despite playing below his usual standards, the 20-times Grand Slam champion was able to eke out victory by finding his serving rhythm and winning the biggest points of the match as nerves finally caught up with Coric. The 36-year-old Federer improved to 17-0 for the year, his best ever start to a season.
del Potro’s one-sided win lacked the drama of the earlier match as Canadian Raonic put up little fight against the Argentine’s powerful serve and punishing forehand in a contest that lasted just over an hour.
del Potro won nearly 90%of his first service points and converted four of his five break point opportunities against Raonic, who never created a break point against the towering Argentine.
400th win
Victory was the 400th of the 29-year-old del Potro’s career, which has been interrupted by four wrist surgeries.
He considered retiring before slowly regaining his health and climbing the ATP rankings, where he now sits at number eight in the world.
The results (semifinals): Roger Federer bt Borna Coric 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; Juan Martin del Potro bt Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-3 .
