Federer through but Wawrinka falls

Reuters - Fri, 06 Nov 22:46:00 2009

World number one Roger Federer breezed into the Swiss Indoors semi-finals but the Basel crowd's hopes of an all-Swiss final were dashed when Novak Djokovic rallied to beat Stanislas Wawrinka.

Switzerland's Roger Federer cheers after winning his quarter final match against Russia's Evgeny Korolev at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors - 0

Federer overcame Evgeny Korolev 6-3 6-2 and will face unseeded compatriot Marco Chiudinelli, a 6-1 6-3 winner over Frenchman Richard Gasquet, in Saturday's semi-final.

Wawrinka, the other home quarter-finalist, won the first set against the world number three and was a break up in the second.

But the Serb broke back, won the second set tiebreak and eased through the third to win 3-6 7-6 6-2.

Djokovic will face fifth seed Radek Stepanek who beat fourth seed Marin Cilic 4-6 6-3 6-3.

Federer, aiming for a fourth successive title in his hometown tournament, broke serve twice in each set against the world number 58, who was never really in the match.

Swiss number two Wawrinka, in the other half of the draw to his more illustrious compatriot, looked as if he could upset Djokovic as he served six aces on his way to winning the first set.

With the fans getting even more excited, Wawrinka broke again in the seventh game of the second to put himself on the verge of a semi-final place.

But Djokovic broke straight back and went on to win the tiebreak 7-5. That took the wind out of the Wawrinka's sails and the Serb rushed through the third set.

"It was a real test," said Djokovic, who thrashed Jan Hernych 6-0 6-0 on Thursday. "The first two matches I played here were without a lot of rhythm.

"He controlled the match most of the time until the end of the second set, then things changed, I got a lot of confidence and the third set was a different story.

"I needed time to get my engines going. I didn't have a lot of great reactions at the start."

Reuters

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  1. You have got to love all the haters (most are Murray­ supporters so it is understandable) who come to read­ just to thumb down comments. Anyways, onwards Fed.

    From LooneR, on Sat 7 Nov 5:05PM
  2. Super fed, u are amazing, like man united

    From Mike, on Sat 7 Nov 12:18PM
  3. hello! i wonder if eurosport has an email adress

    From cyoko, on Sat 7 Nov 12:25AM
  4. Nice one,fed

    From dimeji_stunt, on Fri 6 Nov 11:59PM
  5. gr8 job..keep it up!

    From zsanosz, on Fri 6 Nov 10:55PM
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