Roger Federer won his fifth title at the Indian Wells Masters by defeating compatriot Stan Wawrinka in the final in straight sets. This made Federer the oldest winner of the tournament at 35 years of age, surpassing Jimmy Connors’ previous record of 31.
This is Federer’s 25th Masters 1000 title and his 90th overall and the victory took him to No. 6 in the ATP Rankings, surpassing his arch-rival Rafael Nadal in the process. The amazing thing about Federer’s triumph was that he did not drop a single set throughout the entire tournament despite facing the likes of Wawrinka and Nadal.
Steve Johnson came the closest to winning a set against the Swiss as both the sets in their third round match were decided by a tie-break.
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This isn’t the first time that Federer has won a tournament without dropping a set as he has done this plenty of times during his illustrious career. Here are five such instances when Federer won a tournament without dropping a single set.
#5 2012 Cincinnati Masters
Roger Federer regained the No. 1 ranking after claiming his seventh Wimbledon title in 2012, defeating Andy Murray in the finals. Both players subsequently faced off at the final of the London Olympics but the Briton saw off Federer in straight sets.
Following the London Olympics, Federer competed at the Cincinnati Masters which was the first time he was seeded on top in the tournament in three years. Federer was in terrific form throughout the tournament as he breezed past Alex Bogomolov Jr., Bernard Tomic, Mardy Fish, and Stan Wawrinka all in straight sets to set up a title clash against World No. 2, Novak Djokovic.
What was expected to be a nail-biting match turned out to be completely one-sided in the first set as Federer bageled the Serb. Djokovic put up a tough fight in the second set but the Swiss managed to edge him out 7-6 to win his fifth title at the Cincinnati Masters.
#4 2011 Paris Masters
2011 was not one of Federer’s best years as for the first time since 2002, he could not win any of the four Majors. However, he did manage to end the year on a high. After losing to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open, Federer won the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel by beating Kei Nishikori in the final.
Following this, the Swiss competed at the Paris Masters as the third seed. Having received a bye in the first round, Federer defeated wildcard Adrian Mannarino and Richard Gasquet in the second and third rounds respectively to set up a quarter-final clash against Juan Monaco.
Federer beat Monaco in straight sets to set up a semi-final clash against Tomas Berdych, who beat second seed Andy Murray in the quarter-finals. Interestingly enough, Berdych had previously beaten Federer in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters a few months ago.
The Swiss avenged that defeat, though, by beating Berdych 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first ever final at the Paris Masters. In the final, Federer faced 6th seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and thrashed him in the first set 6-1 before taking the second set in a tie-break to win only his third title of the year.
#3 2015 Cincinnati Masters
After losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final for the second time running, Federer was eager to put in a strong performance at Cincinnati. Seeded second in the tournament, Federer defeated Roberto Bautista Agut, Kevin Anderson, and Feliciano Lopez – all in three sets – to set up a rematch of his 2015 Wimbledon semi-final against Andy Murray where he had beaten Murray in straight sets.
The outcome was the same as Federer won the match in two to set up a rematch of his Wimbledon final against Djokovic. The first set was pretty exciting and it went to a tie-breaker which Federer dominated to clinch the set 7-6.
The second set was a tad one-sided compared to the first as the Swiss took it 6-3 to win his seventh title at the Cincinnati Masters. This was also the first time that Federer had beaten the top two players in the same tournament.
#2 2007 Australian Open
Federer has been able to win a Grand Slam without dropping a set only once in his career so far and this happened at the 2007 Australian Open. Federer was at the peak of his powers during this period and headed into the tournament with a 29-match unbeaten streak starting from the 2006 US Open.
Federer had a brilliant tournament as he won his first three matches in straight sets to set up a fourth round clash against future World No.1 Novak Djokovic. The Swiss completely outplayed the young Djokovic to reach the quarter-finals where he was up against 7th seed Tommy Robredo. Federer managed to beat Robredo in straight sets 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 to set up a rematch of the 2006 US Open final against Andy Roddick in the semi-finals.
Federer completely outplayed Roddick, trouncing him 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 to reach his seventh consecutive Grand Slam final. In the final, the Swiss magician was up against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez who had shocked Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
Federer won the match in straight sets to win his third Australian Open and 10th Grand Slam title, thus becoming the first man to win a Grand Slam without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg in the 1980 French Open.
#1 2017 Indian Wells
After an injury-hampered World Tour last year, Federer has hit a purple patch this season so far. Seeded 17th at the Australian Open, Federer beat higher ranked players like Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori, and Stan Wawrinka to set up a highly anticipated final against rival and friend Rafael Nadal.
In a match that lasted more than three and a half hours, Federer beat Nadal in five sets to win his 5th Australian Open title and 18th Grand Slam in total.
Following the Australian Open, Federer surprisingly lost in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships to qualifier Evgeny Donskoy. However, he rebounded brilliantly at the Indian Wells Masters. After annihilating Stephane Robert in the second round, Federer edged past Steve Johnson in the third round 7-6, 7-6 to set up his second match against Rafa within the space of a month and a half.
However, this match turned to out to be one-sided as Federer comfortably beat the Spaniard 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals where he won via walkover as his opponent Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the match due to illness. Federer beat Jack Sock in the semi-final in straight sets to reach the final where he would be playing compatriot and friend Stan Wawrinka.
Wawrinka took a 2-0 lead in the first set but the Australian Open champion fought back to take the set 6-4. Federer then took the second set 7-5 to win his fifth Indian Wells Masters title.
His win sees him tied with Djokovic for the most number of titles at the Indian Wells Masters. It also sees him move up to No. 6 in the ATP rankings.
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