Roger Federer in top form, too much for Milos Raonic at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS – Roger Federer looks rested, fresh, eager and in form at this BNP Paribas Open.

For Milos Raonic, looking to back up his first career win over Rafael Nadal with another victory over a top-three player in the semi-finals, that probably wasn’t the Federer he needed.

The scores were close enough – 7-5, 6-4 for Federer, who will have a rematch of last year’s Indian Wells final against No. 1 Novak Djokovic. But somehow, it didn’t feel all that close.

In the first set, Federer got the break late – at 5-5. In the second set, he got it early, and never looked in major danger of relinquishing it.

Here's what it looked like. A whole lot toweling off - even by Federer - on a sweltering day.

Not only was Federer playing well, he was also getting the breaks.

Raonic had one break point in the match, with Federer leading 2-1 in the second set. And during that break point, he managed a very good backhand return that hit the baseline and had Federer in trouble.

The problem? It was called out, and chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani overruled.

That gave Federer a replay, and a first serve, which he hit 128 mph and which Raonic couldn’t handle.

Even then, that break point came as the consequence of a rather – well, “fanciful” might be the best adjective to describe that game from Federer’s viewpoint.

The Swiss legend suddenly decided to try a few fancy shots. Perhaps it was an external demonstration of how good he was feeling. Or perhaps he just got momentarily bored. Who knows.

Federer served and volleyed on a second serve. He hit a forehand drop shot that Raonic took care of.
Then he tried another drop shot, on the backhand.

But that one break-point opportunity came went for Raonic.  And he never got another.

“Today I thought he played really well. He played a solid match, but it's always been sort of against him that you have sort of maybe a little bit of a sense where to go in the important moments,” Raonic said, referring to attacking the backhand whenever possible. “Today I thought he was very clean with it, very methodical, and he used that to his advantage, sort of knowing that's where I would go on the important moments. “

Raonic fought well, if perhaps with less serenity than he had the previous day against Nadal.

But Federer was fist-pumping and “C’MON”-ing from the third game, even on Raonic’s errors.

Raonic’s serving numbers were good; Federer’s were better.

It just felt as though the world No. 2 never really had to get out of third gear to win in straight sets against the world No. 6, which is just another example of the gap between the top three and the rest. Novak Djokovic’s routine victory over No. 4 Andy Murray, which preceded the Raonic-Federer match, was an even more startling example even if Murray had a very poor day.

Still, Raonic will head to Miami with a lot of confidence and a marquee scalp to add to his resumé. He didn’t gain any ground in the rankings, but he’s just 300 points behind No. 5 Kei Nishikori.

“Obviously it helps when you have these moments, these experiences, and you try to take the most away from them. I'm happy that I'm getting more and more traction each time (against a top player) and I can get some hopefully wins in my favour,” Raonic said. “But  it's never like you get on top of these guys. As you see between each other, they keep going back and forth with the results. I'm just trying to sort of get myself in that mix and give myself that opportunity where it can go back and forth.”

Raonic was a quarter-finalist last year in Miami, losing to Nadal; Nishikori defeated Federer in the quarter-finals before giving Djokovic a walkover in the semis. Federer is skipping Miami this time around.