The Final Four of the men's 2008 Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells is set and the top three players in the Rankings Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic along with unseeded American Mardy Fish are ready for battle.
This is the first time since 2005 the Top 3 players are in the semifinals in Indian Wells (Federer, Hewitt, Roddick). In the first semifinal of the day, Nadal takes a 6-2 career record against Djokovic in a repeat of last years final which the Spaniard won. In the second semifinal, Federer brings a 5-0 lifetime mark (11-1 in sets) against Fish who is appearing in the semifinals here for the first time. Fish has defeated four seeds en route to the semifinals, including two Top 10s. Djokovic won the Australian Open in January while the other three players are all looking for their first ATP title of the season.
Big 3 in Semifinals Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are playing in the semifinals together for the fifth time since last June at Roland Garros. In 2007, the trio led the ATP circuit in titles Federer (8), Nadal (6) and Djokovic (5).
With the winner of Djokovic-Nadal reaching the final, it will mark the 10th consecutive ATP Masters Series tournament that one of the Big 3 will have reached the title match.
American Streak on the Line Federer takes a 41-match winning streak against Americans into the semifinals against Fish. The last time Federer lost to an American was in the semifinals of ATP Masters Series Montreal on Aug. 9, 2003 when he fell in a third set tie-break to Andy Roddick. At the time he was ranked No. 3. During the streak, Fish has been a victim four times.
Clutch in Tie-breaks Coming into the tournament Fish had the worst tie-break record (0-5) among players in the Top 100. But in the last two rounds, he defeated No. 24 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 7 David Nalbandian in a third set tiebreak to improve to 2-6 on the season. In the last two years, Fish was 2-6 in matches decided in a third set tie-break. This is the first time in his career he has beaten two Top 10 opponents and won back-to-back matches in a third set tie-break in the same tournament. Saturday marks the four-year anniversary that Fish reached a career-high No. 17 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. The No. 98th-ranked Fish is trying to become the lowest-ranked player to reach the tournament final since Larry Stefanki won the title in nearby La Quinta (ranked No. 143) in 1985. (ATP Digital Services)
In the U.S., Fox Sports Net will air coverage this afternoon, check your local listings. Live streaming from four courts is available online by clicking the banner below:
