Tennis

INDIAN WELLS — World No 1 Roger Federer’s remarkable run continued as he booked his quarter-final berth in the ATP Indian Wells Masters with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old Federer is off to one of his strongest career starts and is now 15-0 in 2018. It is his best beginning to the season since 2006 when he started 16-0 and won 33 of his first 34 matches.

"Today was a tough challenge in the wind," Federer said. "I played really good tennis for most of the match."

The defending Indian Wells champion Federer put on a serving clinic against Chardy as he hit two aces and won 100 per cent of his first serve points. He dropped just three points overall with those coming on his second serve.

Federer advances to the quarter-finals where he will face South Korea’s Chung Hyeon who defeated 30th seeded Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 6-3 earlier on Wednesday.

Federer only needed to break Chardy once in each set to get the win in 82 minutes.

The first break of serve came in the 11th game of the opening set to take a 6-5 lead.

In the second set he broke Chardy in the ninth game to lead 5-4. Each time he got the break he then served for the set.

Federer clinched the victory on the first match point when Chardy pounded a forehand into the net.

Chardy hit four aces but made 46 unforced errors compared to just 29 for Federer.

Federer, who won the Australian Open in January, is gunning for a record sixth Indian Wells title. He also lifted the trophy here in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012 and last year.

Federer is now 4-1 overall against Chardy, having beaten the Frenchman the last two times they played. Chardy’s lone victory over Federer was a three setter, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), on clay in Rome in 2014.

Federer also won a title in Rotterdam this year. He picked up seven titles in 2017, comprising the Australian Open, Halle, Wimbledon, Miami, Shanghai, Basel and Indian Wells. — AFP