In a way, it is hard to believe that Roger Federer continues to create new records for himself in a sport in which he has re-written plenty of them. But in Saturday’s BNP Paribas Open semi-finals, the Swiss will have a chance to do so once again.
The World No. 1 can eclipse his best start to a season (16-0 in 2006) by defeating 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Borna Coric to win his 17th straight match to begin the year.
“What was I doing back then? I don't even remember what tournament I played first up and won,” Federer joked with the press about his start to 2006 after his quarter-final win against inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung Thursday evening. “It's a great start. Hopefully I can do one more and beat my best streak on Saturday.”
As Federer noted in that press conference, this streak comes under different circumstances. The Swiss is now 36 compared to his 24-year-old self. And when he lost his season-opening streak of 16 matches in 2006 against Rafael Nadal at Dubai, he had also won 51 of 52 matches going back to 2005. Regardless, Federer’s start to the 2018 campaign has been plenty impressive, and he has already checked off one important goal in advancing to the semi-finals: Federer guaranteed that he will remain No. 1 in the ATP Rankings ahead of Rafael Nadal for at least the next two weeks.
But after defeating Chung, another rising star will stand across the net, attempting to end the Swiss’ perfect season in which Federer has won 37 of 40 sets played. Borna Coric is into his first ATP World Tour semi-final after beating World No. 9 Kevin Anderson for the first time in four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.
View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the semi-finals & vote for who you think will win!
Federer vs Coric | Del Potro vs Raonic
[GROUP POLL]114[/GROUP POLL]
For a while, Coric’s prospects of advancing looked grim. After a lightning quick 2-6 first-set loss Thursday, the Croatian had lost his first eight sets against the South African. But Coric battled until the end, overcoming a 2-4 deciding-set deficit to achieve perhaps his best result to date.
“It's not [a] done job. I said many times, just because I play good now here, it has been a fantastic week for me, but again, you have another tournament next week,” Coric said. “The job is never done, in my opinion. I need to keep improving. I'm still very young… I need to work still a lot.”
And while Coric showed his good form early on in California by losing fewer games than anyone else in the draw in the first three rounds — the 21-year-old lost a combined nine games against Donald Young, No. 19 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas and recent Dubai champion Roberto Bautista Agut, he will need to raise his level even more against the top-seeded Federer, who blitzed the rising star in 56 minutes in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter at 2015 Dubai.
“Roger, I don't have to say anything. We all know him,” Coric said. “I have nothing special to say. I'm just looking forward to the next challenge and what it brings me that day.”
Coric, a strong mover who admitted that he played too defensively in the quarter-finals against Anderson, will have to step in and change that against Federer. Otherwise the Swiss, who is a master of controlling the baseline, will have the match on his racquet and look to suffocate Coric off the ground by taking the ball early and attacking with forays to the net against the Croatian.
It will be a great challenge for Coric against Federer, who has glided past many who have stood in his path over the years. A reporter mentioned to the Swiss that he had won his 60th match at Indian Wells (now at 61) this week.
“Sounds like a lot, but at the same time, I don't know how many people have done that or — I mean, when you're in the game for long enough and successfully enough, these things just tend to happen, I believe,” Federer said after shrugging. “It's not something you can ever chase or — yeah, it just shows me that I have played Indian Wells a lot, I have liked it a lot, and I kind of like the conditions here.”
Federer would certainly like something else, too — winning his career-best 17th straight match to start the season and with it, reaching final No. 8 at Indian Wells as he continues pursuing another record — a sixth trophy in the desert.