Top Men's Tennis Stars Take Center Court at Indian Wells Saturday

The men’s semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday will featured three of the so-called Big Four, with Canadian Milos Ranoic is crashing the party.

Ranoic saved three match points in the second set claiming his first ever victory over No. 3 Rafael Nadal on Friday, 4-6, 7-6 (10), 7-5.

The Canadian’s upset win sets up a semifinal against World No. 2 Roger Federer.

“I think I have a good understanding of what I need to do against Roger. Obviously that’s the easiest part, understanding it, rather than doing it,” Ranoic said.

Federer advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-0 over Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

“[It’s] not just another win, but another win against a Top 10 player; against Berdych, who has played me tough in recent years,” Federer said.

Federer leads the head-to-head series 8-1 over Ranoic.

Saturday’s other semifinal features the next chapter in the rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The 25th meeting between the Serb and the Scot will be their second at Indian Wells.

Djokovic has won eight of the past nine matches versus Murray, with the most recent coming in this year’s Australian Open final.

The 27-year-old Djokovic won his quarterfinal match via a walkover when Bernard Tomic withdrew due to an injury. Murray toppled the No. 12 seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 to make the semis.

“I would say my tennis is where I would like it to be. Obviously I have struggled here in the past, but so far I have played some good tennis. So that’s also a positive for me,” Murray said.

The World’s No. 1 leads 16-8 in the head-to-head series, including a 14-6 mark on hard courts.