Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios may seem like polar opposites in personalities and game styles, but the Swiss maestro believes they have more in common than fans may realise. The pair will square off on Thursday for a spot in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open. Both have weathered challenging draws to reach the last eight in Indian Wells, with Kyrgios taking out No. 18 seed Alexander Zverev and three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic, and Federer ousting fifth seed Rafael Nadal in a highly-anticipated fourth-round clash. They've also put on flawless serving displays, with neither player dropping serve this fortnight. The high level of tennis that Kyrgios has produced this fortnight and in his semi-final run at the Abierto...
Pablo Carreno Busta is through to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final after saving two match points to deny Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4) at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. The Spaniard ended Cuevas' seven-match winning run with victory in two hours and five minutes, avenging his defeat to the Uruguayan in the Sao Paulo semi-finals just under two weeks ago. "It's an amazing feeling," said Carreno Busta. "It's my first time in the semifinal in a Masters 1000. This tournament is one of the best tournaments in the year and maybe one of the tougher, because all the people is playing here. So I think it's a really great result for me." Carreno Busta goes on...
There was only one person happier than Roger Federer with the way his backhand performed on Wednesday in his spectacular display of aggression to defeat Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 in the BNP Paribas Open fourth round. That was his father Robert, who witnessed from courtside the laser-like backhands cannonball past the Spaniard. “First thing he told me after the match was 'Great match, great backhands,” said Federer, speaking to Tennis Channel. "He's basically been the first guy to tell me, ‘Hit the backhand, damn it! Don't fall back and slice all the time." Victory at Indian Wells marked the first time Federer had beaten Nadal three times in a row in their gladiatorial 36 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. On numerous...
• Top 10 players and Top 2 Pablos will battle in the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals on Thursday when No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka meets No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem and No. 21 seed Pablo Carreno Busta faces No. 27 seed Pablo Cuevas. Three of the four boast one-handed backhands (Wawrinka, Thiem and Cuevas) and all four are bidding for their first Indian Wells semi-final. • Wawrinka rallied Wednesday after lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka served for their fourth-round match twice. The top-ranked Swiss owns a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head 2 Head record against Thiem. He is 0-2 in Indian Wells quarter-finals, falling to Novak Djokovic in 2008 and Roger Federer in 2011. Wawrinka has reached as many ATP World Tour...
