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World no. 1 Roger set his eyes on the third consecutive Indian Wells title in 2006. The Swiss faced Paradorn Srichaphan in the semi-final and scored a 6-2, 6-3 triumph in an hour for his 17th victory in a row in the desert and the third final.
Federer made a shaky start against Nicolas Massu and his junior doubles partner Olivier Rochus. However, the Swiss reached the last 16 and improved his performance against Richard Gasquet to hit the quarter-final. He stormed over the 6th seed Ivan Ljubicic to gain momentum and used it against the Bangkok native in the next duel.
Having no wins at this level since Indian Wells 2005, Paradorn toppled some notable seeds to enter the last four. However, Roger was too strong, controlling the pace from start to finish and sailing into the title clash. Srichaphan took a set from Federer in Bangkok last fall but stood no chance in this one.
The Swiss lost 16 points in nine service games, suffering one break and stealing almost half of the return points.
Roger Federer reached his third consecutive Indian Wells final in 2006.
Roger grabbed four breaks from seven opportunities and controlled the action from start to finish to book a place in the final.
Federer had the upper hand in the shortest and more extended rallies. He tamed his shots nicely to hit more winners than unforced errors and add another victory to his fantastic season. Roger clinched the encounter's first game after deuce with a service winner, and Paradorn fired four quick points to level the score at 1-1 and add his name to the scoreboard.
The Thai player was miles from that rhythm in the fourth game. He sprayed a forehand error to suffer a break and push Federer 3-1 in front before Roger landed an ace in game seven to maintain the advantage and open a 5-2 gap.
Serving to stay in the set in the eighth game, Srichaphan netted a volley to hand another break to Federer, who needed under 30 minutes to wrap up the opener. Suddenly, Paradorn broke Roger at 15 at the start of the second set and forced the rival's error in game two to open a 2-0 advantage.
Federer pulled the break back in game four following Srichaphan's double fault, leveling the score at 2-2 and gaining a boost. World no. 1 moved 3-2 ahead with four winners and broke in the next one when his rival missed a volley.
Roger held for 5-2 and served for the victory in game nine. The world's leading player sealed the deal with three winners and set the title clash against James Blake.