Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet in a doubles match today at Indian Wells. Federer and partner Stanislas Wawrinka, who won the doubles gold together at the 2008 Olympics, cruised past the second-seeded team of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in their opening match, then won 6-3, 4-6, 12-10 over Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Mark Knowles and Michal Mertinak in straight sets.
Nadal and partner Marc Lopez, who are the defending doubles champions at Indian Wells, won their first two matches in straight sets (over Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski and Marin Cilic/Ivo Karlovic), then outlasted Lukas Dlouhy and Paul Hanley 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-7.
This is the third time the two singles stars will meet in doubles—in 2004, at Indian Wells, Nadal and Tommy Robredo beat Federer and Yves Allegro 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; they also collided in Rome, in 2007, when Nadal and Carlos Moya defeated Federer and Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (5). The winner of tonight's match, which will be broadcast live on Tennis Channel at 9 pm EST, will face Alexandr Dolgopolov and Xavier Malissie in the final.—Ed McGrogan