By Ricky Dimon
Twelve matches down. Ten to go?
That’s right; seven days into the BNP Paribas Open, Roger Federer and John Isner boast an incredible combined record of 12-0. They are both 6-0; 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles.
Should they both win two more singles matches and one more doubles match, they would face each other in the finals of both events and thus play the maximum number of possible matches in Indian Wells–11 each (not 12, because each man is seeded in singles and got a bye to the second round).
The journey started last Friday, when Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka ousted No. 6 seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in a super-tiebeaker. Isner and Sam Querrey opened on Saturday night with a straight-set defeat of Jeremy Chardy and Gilles Simon.
The Swiss duo then got past Ernests Gulbis and Milos Raonic (both are still alive in singles) before beating Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek. Isner and Querrey advanced through their next two matches at the expense of Australian Open champions Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt followed by Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo.
“We hope we can play well here,” Federer said after his first-round doubles match. “We really enjoy playing together. The last time we played together was 19 months ago. It’s good fun teaming up again. Here in Indian Wells so many of the singles guys team up. It’s a good field.”
It’s a field that featured 32 players in the main draws of both singles and doubles (not including Juan Martin Del Potro and Mikhail Youzhny, who would have made it 34 but withdrew from singles prior to their first matches). That means exactly half of the doubles draw also played singles. Thirty-two players–thirty-two–just couldn’t get enough of the amazing BNP Paribas Open and decided to work overtime.
Thirty down. Two to go.
Topics: 10sballs, Atp, BNP Paribas Open, Ernests Gulbis, Gilles Simon, Indian Wells, Ivan Dodig, Jeremy Chardy, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro, Leander Paes, milos raonic, Radek Stepanek, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Sam Querrey, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News
Federer, Isner Double The Fun @ The BNP Paribas Open – http://t.co/Fqg7AhyJdZ @rogerfederer @JohnIsner @BNPPARIBASOPEN #IndianWells #Tennis
RT @10sBalls_com: Federer, Isner Double The Fun @ The BNP Paribas Open – http://t.co/Fqg7AhyJdZ @rogerfederer @JohnIsner @BNPPARIBASOPEN #I…