Novak Djokovic needed a fightback, while Roger Federer was at ease, as the main protagonists at the Swiss Indoors advanced on schedule into the semi-finals on Friday.
Top seed Djokovic fought back to dispatch Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 here to confirm a welcome return to form.
The Serbian set up a clash with rising Japanese star Kei Nishikori, a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 winner in about three hours over Kazakhstani Mikhail Kukushkin.
Federer, the world No. 3, was efficiently ruthless in front of his fanatical hometown crowd as he inflicted a 21st defeat on Andy Roddick from 23 meetings with the American.
Federer meets next Stanislas Wawrinka, his fellow Swiss who beat German Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-2.
Federer’s 64-minute match was the fourth time the pair have played at the Swiss player’s home event, with Federer winning all with the cumulative loss of just one set.
“It was a tough day for Andy, he wasn’t at his best,” said Federer, who is bidding to win a second title this season after claiming Doha at the start of the year. “This is the only match where he didn’t serve well against me.”
Federer finished off Roddick with back-to-back aces, his third and fourth as he competes for the first time since mid-September after resting some minor injuries.
“It didn’t seem like he was so much into his game. My game got better as I went along, especially on serve. I’m pleased to be into another semi-final and facing Stan is always toughm,” Federer said.
Federer has lost only once against Wawrinka, his gold medal Beijing Olympic doubles partner whom he has beaten three times this season.
Djokovic, competing for the first time in six weeks after back trouble, fought off a dozen aces from Baghdatis to move into the last four at the event he won in 2009 over Federer.
He dropped serve twice in the opening set, but quickly put his game right to steam through in just over 90 minutes.
“I’m not playing so strong, but I’m winning, that’s the important thing,” Djokovic said. “It was a tense match, Marcos played well.”
Djokovic improved to 6-0 over Baghdatis, a player against whom he has struggled, with the Cypriot winning sets in their last four meetings.
Djokovic’s win was his 67th of a sensational season against just three losses.
The 32nd-ranked Nishikori will be competing in his third semi-final in six weeks after making it to the final four last month in Kuala Lumpur and at the Shanghai Masters, which was the best showing of his career.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said after the victory. “I knew this would be tough, but another semi-final is a great result for me.”
“I was up a break in the second set and didn’t really think I’d be playing a third, but I struggled a bit. I played the last three games of the match very strong,” Nishikori added.
The 21-year-old began his week in Basel with his second career top-10 win, putting out year-end final contender and fourth seed Tomas Berdych, having previously upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Shanghai second round.
The Florida-based Nishikori took 20 minutes short of three hours to win his sixth quarter-final from seven played this season.
VALENCIA OPEN
AFP, VALENCIA, Spain
Spaniard and No. 1 seed David Ferrer made light work of qualifying for the semi-finals at the ATP Valencia Open on Friday, brushing aside the challenge of 30-year-old Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4, in only one hour and 22 minutes.
World No. 5 Ferrer grew up in Javea, less than one hour down the Costa Blanca from Spain’s third city and he obviously feels at home at a tournament he won last year and also in 2008 when it was an outdoor event on clay. Indeed, in 2009 he did not lose here either, having to withdraw with injury, meaning his unbeaten run here now stretches to 14 matches.
Meanwhile, Argentine Juan Monaco beat Ferrer’s friend and co-owner of the rights to this event, Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 6-3.
Monaco, ranked 41st in the world, triumphed in one hour and 36 minutes against the former world No. 1 and also native of Valencia.
Barcelona-born Marcel Granollers, world ranked 54 and runner-up at this event last year, has again had a spectacular week and on Friday beat No. 3 seed Gael Monfils 7-6 (14/12), 3-6, 6-4.
The first set was a 65-minute marathon that Granollers took in a tie-break on the fifth opportunity after saving three set points against him.
Monfils broke in the sixth game of the second set and went on to level the match, but the decisive set was to belong to Granollers when he broke Monfils for the fourth time when 5-4 up.
Defeat for Monfils now means he must win in his home city next week in the Paris Masters, where he is a two-time runner-up, to have any chance of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month.
Another player with an outside chance of qualifying for London is Juan Martin del Potro, who must be considered one of the most in-form players in the world at the moment.
Del Potro made light work on Friday of Sam Querrey of the US, beating him 6-2, 7-5, and he is yet to drop a set at the event in three matches.
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