Andy Murray will play Novak Djokovic while Roger Federer will play Milos Raonic in the Indian Wells men’s semi-finals on Saturday after Djokovic went through without hitting a ball and Rafael fell at the hands of the big serving Canadian. Djokovic and Murray will battle it out for the 25th time on Saturday in the BNP Parsbas Open in what has become quite the rivalry between the two.
The World Number One was due to play Australian Bernard Tomic on Stadium One court on Thursday night, but the match was cancelled after Tomic withdrew. handing the semi-final spot to the defending champion who will take on Murray next.
The pair will face off on Saturday with Murray on slightly better form than the Serb, who will not have played a match since Tuesday night. The world number four recently set the record for Britain’s Open Era match win record, overtaking Tim Henman’s mighty feat of 496 victories.
The scot comfortably overcame Spanish opponent Feliciano Lopez for the tenth time in straight sets, having his serve broken only once throughout the entire match. Murray came through the match despite breezy conditions to take it 6-3 6-4.
It will be only their second meeting at Indian Wells; Djokovic won their last match in 2007 after conceding only five games against the Scot to book his place in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. Djokovic has a 16-8 record against Murray, 14-6 on Hard Court, with the Serb’s last win over his good friend coming in the Australian Open final earlier in the year.
In the bottom half of the draw Roger Federer thrashed Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-0 in a match lasting little over an hour. Many people thought would have gone the distance but Federer produced a masterful display which left the Czech clueless on court. Federer toyed with Berdych right from the start of the match, however it was a crucial break in the fifth game of the first set which really set the tone or the match. Federer now extends his overall win/loss record against the Czech to 13-6.
Rafael Nadal couldn’t match the brilliant performance that Roger put in earlier in the day, ultimately losing to an inspired Milos Raonic who came from a set down to beat the four-time Indian Wells champion 4-6, 7-6(10), 7-5.
Raonic saved three match points to claim his first ever win over the Spaniard on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open. The Canadian beat the third seed to advance to a semi-final meeting with Roger Federer as he looks to reach his second consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. The pair will face off for the tenth time with the Swiss holding an 8-1 record against his opponent. However, it was Raonic who won their last Masters 1000 match in Paris at the end of last year.
Raonic has advanced to the quarter-final stages or better in eight of his last ten ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events. A statistic he will surely benefit from going into his match against the Swiss Maestro.
