Wawrinka And Federer Aim To Make Indian Wells History

• The BNP Paribas Open championship on Sunday is an all-Swiss match-up between No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka,and No. 9 seed Roger Federer. It is the first all-countrymen final in Indian Wells since 2001 when Andre Agassi defeated Pete Sampras. There have been four other all-American finals in the tournament’s 42-year history. Federer comes into his seventh Indian Wells final without losing a set or serve. Wawrinka is making his first appearance in the Indian Wells final. This is the oldest combined final in tournament history between Federer (35y, 7m) and Wawrinka (31y, 11m). The winner will become the oldest champion in tournament history, surpassing Jimmy Connors (31y, 5m), who captured the title in 1984.

• Federer owns a 19-3 head-to-head record, including 14-0 on hard courts. Federer won the two previous meetings here in 2011 QF (63 64) and 2013 4R (63 67 75). Wawrinka won the only final between the two at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in 2014. Wawrinka’s other two wins also came on clay at 2009 Monte-Carlo and 2015 Roland Garros, his last win. Federer has won the past three meetings, the last coming in a five-set semi-final at the Australian Open in January. The other all-Swiss ATP World Tour final came in 2000 Marseille as Marc Rosset beat Federer in a third set TB.

• Federer is trying to claim his record-tying fifth Indian Wells title (w/Djokovic), 25th ATP Masters 1000 crown and 90th overall title in his career. He won titles here in 2004-05-06 and 2012 while reaching finals in 2014-15. At 35, Federer is trying to become the oldest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title. Andre Agassi was 34y, 3m, when he won in Cincinnati in 2004. Federer’s last ATP Masters 1000 title came in Cincinnati in 2015, two weeks after turning 34. He won that tournament without getting broken (held 49 service games). Federer has held all 37 service games (saving one break point vs. Nadal in 4R). He is 12-1 on the season, including 5-0 vs. Top 10 opponents, his best showing to start the year since 2004 when he went 18-0 and finished No. 1. Federer will move from No. 10 to No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday and if he wins the title, will move to No. 6. Federer is also trying to become the fourth two-time champion on the ATP World Tour this season. The others are: Grigor Dimitrov, Jack Sock and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

• Wawrinka is appearing in his fourth ATP Masters 1000 final (1-2), the first in the U.S. His lone ATP Masters 1000 title came in Monte-Carlo in 2014. Overall, he is 15-10 in career finals and his only previous final/title in the U.S. came at last year’s US Open where he defeated No. 1 Djokovic in the final for his third Grand Slam crown. Wawrinka has dropped two sets in five matches en route to the final, in wins over [LL} Nishioka in 4R and [8] Thiem in QF, both in third-set tie-breaks.

• Three of the Big Four (except Murray) have accounted for 12 of the past 13 Indian Wells titles going back to 2004 when Federer captured the first of his four titles (2004-06, 2012). Overall a Top 5 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings has lifted the champion’s trophy in 15 of the past 16 years, except 2010 when No. 26 Ivan Ljubicic won the title. Ljubicic is Federer’s coach.

Watch your favourite players work on their games by taking in a live stream at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.