Britain's Andy Murray took advantage of an error-prone Roger Federer to reach the final of the ATP event at Indian Wells with a commanding 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory on Saturday. The 21-year-old Scot, who had beaten the three-time champion in their previous three meetings, broke the Swiss twice to sweep through the first set in half an hour. Although Federer raised his performance in the second set to level the match, Murray broke in the fourth and sixth games of the third to seal victory in one hour 48 minutes. “That's one of my best performances against him for sure,” fourth-seeded Murray told Sky Sports. In Sunday's final, Murray will meet world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain or American Andy Roddick, who were playing later on Saturday. On Friday, Roddick beat defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-2 in the BNP Paribas Open. Nadal, trying for his second Indian Wells title in three years, rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Juan Martin del Potro. Meanwhile, defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Russia's Vera Zvonareva earned spots in Sunday's women's final. Fifth-seeded Ivanovic defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3, while fourth-seeded Zvonareva beat Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-3. Seventh-seeded Roddick's game was solid all-around against third-seeded Djokovic. The error-prone Serbian made 30 unforced errors, 18 more than his American opponent. The semifinals appearance will be Roddick's third at Indian Wells. He lost to Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 and to Rafael Nadal in 2007. Djokovic was extremely disappointed with his effort. “It's just one of those days when you really don't feel comfortable on the court,” he said. “I just didn't have any momentum - no feel for the ball, no movement. Just no solutions. It was all me making an incredible amount of unforced errors. “This was one of the worst matches, certainly, I played.” Nadal covered the court extremely well in his win over sixth-seeded del Potro, keeping the ball in play even when the Argentine had him racing from side to side. Often, Nadal would be on the run and slash a winner crosscourt or down the line. He hit 25 winners, 13 with his forehand. He has won four of six career meetings against Roddick, figures he's in for a difficult test in their semifinal. “He's playing very well. He started the season very well, semifinals in Australia. He played the final in Doha, too, and he won in Memphis,” Nadal said. “It's going to be a really tough match. I have to play very well, serve well and focus all the time, play aggressive on the return.” Nadal, who supplanted Federer at the top of the rankings last year, is playing in the desert tournament for the fifth time. He has made it at least to the semifinals each of the past four years and took the title in 2007 with a win over Djokovic.
