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  • Indian Wells Semifinal: Roger Federer vs. Mardy Fish

    3/22/08 7:39 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - On paper this one looks like it should be a rout. It’s already been a crazy season on the ATP Tour, however, so will the Roger Federer-Mardy Fish semifinal tilt at the Pacific Life Open produce yet another shocker?

    The second quarter of the Indian Wells draw was completely wide open right from the start, but few could have imagined that it would be Mardy Fish emerging from the fracas to face Roger Federer in the semifinals. That’s exactly what happened, however, and it will be the sixth head-to-head meeting between the two players when they square off on Saturday. Federer holds a perfect 5-0 edge over Fish, but the last victory came all the way back in 2005 at this same Masters Series event.

    If Fish is ever going to break through against the world No. 1, the time is now. Sure he is a huge underdog, but the American is in rare form at the moment and enjoying one of his best-ever tournaments. In the earlier stages of the Pacific Life Open, Fish handled Florian Mayer, 31st-seeded Igor Andreev, and No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko without dropping a set. His next two victories came at the complete opposite end of the spectrum: in third-set tiebreakers. On Wednesday Fish took out No. 24 seed Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(4), and he followed that up with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) upset No. 7 seed David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals.

    Federer has taken a much different route to the tournament’s final weekend. In fact the Swiss did not even have to play a quarterfinal match, as would-be opponent Tommy Haas pulled out with a sinus problem. Federer was utterly dominant in his first three matches. He crushed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2, routed Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 6-1, and then rolled over 23rd-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-4. Federer is looking to capture his first title in 2008, having failed at the Australian Open and in Dubai, where Andy Murray stunned him in the opening round.

    Federer should be playing for the title on Sunday. As if Fish needed any more disadvantages heading into a showdown with the best player in the world and arguably the best player ever, consider the time each contestant has spent on court recently. Fish took two hours and 28 minutes to finish off Hewitt and the thriller with Nalbandian lasted 2:45. Federer, meanwhile, has spent just three hours and 15 minutes on court throughout this entire tournament. Fish is up against monumental odds, but if there’s one thing 2008 has taught us, it’s that nothing is impossible.

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