Roger Federer further advances in the Indian Wells tournament beating a menacing Raonic (and a looming flu).
The match was not so smooth (nobody was expecting it was a stoll in the park). Roger never lost a serve game and managed to break his opponent 3 times, but breaking Milos was a hard task that he managed to achieve only after 1 hour of play.
The first set got straight to the decider. And it was just a minibreak to give the opener to Raonic. The impression was that Roger was quite unable to handle the Canadian’s serve and Milos was struggling to keep the pace of Roger’s rallies.
The second set looked easy from the begining with Federer breaking his opponent twice to lead 4-1 (2 breaks up). It was a piece of (chocolate) cake to win it for the Swiss.
The third set was much more difficult with Federer getting the decisive break at the 7th game (to lead 4-3). Than he managed to hold serve twice to win the match and get to the quarters.
‘I was getting to the ball often in the beginning, but just not making the plays,’ Federer said. ‘I was able to improve, and once I got that going maybe his serving also just dropped a tiny bit and gave me more opportunities on his second serves. That was a big second set for me to get momentum, particularly the first break of the second set.’ Talking about his illness ‘Slow improvements,’ he said. ‘I’m still not 100 percent.’
‘I thought before the match I had a chance to win this,’ Raonic said. ‘I did a few things well in the first set, and after that he just picked it up on the return. I don’t think I served as well after, either.’
On the other side of the same part of the draw Rafa had a very ordinary day with Granollers. ‘I didn’t play my best in the second,’ he said. ‘I had a few mistakes, especially for the backhand. But I am happy that I finished the match well.’
Nadal will play with Dolgopolov in the quarter-finals..