INDIAN WELLS, the United States, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Roger Federer reached BNP Paribas Open final on Saturday with a hard-fought 5-7 6-4 6-4 victory over unseeded 21-year-old Borna Coric at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California.
The defending champion will play for a record sixth BNP Paribas Open title in Sunday's final. He is into the final in Indian Wells for the fourth straight time, having missed the event in 2016.
Down a set and a break at 7-5, 4-2, Federer rallied from the deficit to win the final four games of the second set, breaking Coric twice for the first time in the match.
The 36-year-old Swiss superstar then roared back in dramatic fashion to advance and extend his season-best win streak to 17 matches.
The World No. 1 has entered the match having won 38 of 41 sets contested this year and claimed titles at the Australian Open and the ATP event at Rotterdam.
"I had to fight a little bit just to keep the ball in play," Federer said in a postmatch on-court interview. "I tried not to do too much shot-making because it was difficult in the wind and Borna was incredibly steady. He was playing deep, with hard shots. It was tough to do anything. When he was up a set and a break, it was tough for me to accept and move on and just be happy to stay in the game, stay in the rallies with nothing fancy and maybe he would get a little nervous, and I think that's exactly what happened. I got a little bit lucky, too."
The five-time champion will now face Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in the final after the 6bth seed defeated Canada's Milos Raonic in straight sets, 6-2 6-3. Federer will have to overcome the man who beat him at the US Open last year.
Federer has 27 career ATP Masters 1000 titles and has held No. 1 a record 306 weeks, as of 12 March, and remains the place after he reached semi-finals.
"I hung tough and put a lot of effort into it to get the record, " he said in a press conference after the match. "Clearly, the focus has to be the finals right now and not enjoying the record."
Coric, appearing in his first-ever ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal, will jump to No. 36 with the final-four result. He is also the first Croat to reach SF here since 2010.
