Ninth seed Roger Federer takes on third seed Stanislas Wawrinka in an all-Swiss Men's singles final of 2017 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday evening.
Federer brushed aside a challenge from in-form American Jack Sock in the semi-final (6-1, 7-6 (4)) yesterday to reach his seventh final at Indian Wells, thereby maintaining his record of not dropping a set in the ongoing tournament. On the other hand, Wawrinka made light work of Spanish opponent Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2 in just an hour in his last-four clash to reach his maiden final here.
Federer has looked in top form in California over the last week decimating his arch rival Rafael Nadal in straight sets enroute to the title match. The 34-year-old proved that the early exit at last month's Dubai Tennis Championships was just a blip and that he is hungry for more after winning his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year.
Despite being drawn in "Group of Death", Federer was confident of going the distance in the tournament and the early exit of world number two Novak Djokovic, whom he was scheduled to meet in the final stages, has helped him. Having beaten Wawrinka over five sets in a hard-fought match in the semi-final in Melbourne in January, the world number 10 will want to continue his dominance over the former, against whom he has a 19-3 head-to-head advantage.
Wawrinka, on the other hand, was tested in the ongoing tournament by Yoshihito Nishioka and Dominic Thiem enroute to the title match but the world number three was resilient enough to fend away the challenges. The Swiss star has beaten Federer only once in his last seven meetings but with a well-known never-say-die-attitude, Stan will not be thinking about anything but beating his older compatriot today.
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