By Chris Oddo | Friday March 16, 2018
Each day at Tennis Now we’ll give you a fresh set—without any further ado, here’s what happened on Thursday and what’s on tap for Friday at the BNP Paribas Open:
16-0
Roger Federer just keeps chugging along in 2018. And now he’s on the cusp of breaking his record for most consecutive victories to start a season, which is pretty phenomenal when you consider that he’s 36 years old. But hey, that’s what GOATs tend to do, right? Federer improved to 16-0 with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Hyeon Chung to set up a semifinal with Borna Coric on Thursday. Way back in 2006, he was 16-0 heading into the Dubai final before losing to Rafael Nadal in three sets. That was just the fourth installation of the Rafa vs. Roger rivalry.
116
Number of semifinals that Venus Williams has reached in her glorious career. The American, 37, will face Daria Kasatkina with a shot at reaching her first ever BNP Paribas Open final on Friday.
10-4
The record of Russia’s Daria Kasatkina against the Top 20 since last year’s U.S. Open. The 20-year-old has beaten all four current reigning Grand Slam champions—Ostapenko, Muguruza, Stephens, Wozniacki—in that span. She has a lifetime record of 5-3 against Top 2 opponents. On Friday she’ll face World No.8 Venus Williams as she bids for her 10th career Top 10 win.
0
As of Friday there are no players in line to earn the $1 million bonus offered by the BNP Paribas Open to the player that wins titles in both singles and doubles. Nice idea, but not this time.
10
Querrey is making his fourth career ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal showing and his first since 2012 Paris. If Querrey reaches the semifinals, the 30-year-old American will break the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings at No. 10 for the first time in his career. He started the week at No.21, and will face Canada’s Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals today.
8
The current winning streak of Juan Martin del Potro. The Tower of Tandil will face Philipp Kohlschreiber for a shot in his first BNP Paribas Open semifinal since he made a run to the final in 2013.
83
In his 83rd Masters 1000 appearance, 34-year-old Philipp Kohlschreiber will bid to reach his first semifinal today against Juan Martin del Potro. He’ll also bid to become the first German to reach the semis at Indian Wells since 2003. He is already the first from his nation to reach the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open since 2008, when Tommy Haas reached the last eight.