Thursday, March 17, 2011

Swiss tennis stars to clash in Indian Wells

roger federer and stanislas wawrinka

Swiss tennis players Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka will meet in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday.

World tennis number two Federer secured his place beating American 18-year-old Ryan Harrison 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Wednesday, while Wawrinka, the No 12 seed, defeated Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.


They join in-form Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and Spanish world number one Rafa Nadal, while eighth-seeded Andy Roddick bowed out.

“Ryan [Harrison] played a fine match, despite his young age and the fact that we played at night in the second biggest arena in the world,” commented the world number two. “It was windy and I was playing someone I didn’t really know so I was a bit nervous. But I was able to let go in the second set so I’m happy to have won this difficult game.”
The Swiss stars will be on the same side of the net on Thursday when they play a quarterfinal doubles match against Mark Knowles and Michael Mertinak.

“Stan and I said we would fire our serves into each other’s backs during our doubles game,” joked Federer. “It will be a pleasure to play alongside him in doubles ahead of our singles match.”

Djokovic, who now has a perfect 15-0 winning record so far this season, could knock Federer from the number two ranking this week if he reaches the final of the ATP tournament in California, United States.

roger federer and stanislas wawrinka

roger federer and stanislas wawrinka

roger federer and stanislas wawrinka

roger federer and stanislas wawrinka

roger federer and stanislas wawrinka