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Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel—Switzerland
Davis Cup finalist Radek Stepanek continued his winning ways on Friday at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel, defeating fellow London contender Marin Cilic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Stepanek, who holds the No. 5 seed this week, recovered from the loss of the opening to improve to 2-1 in head-to-head meetings against his Croatian opponent.
Cilic, who had fought for three hours and one minute against Viktor Troicki on Thursday, began strong against Stepanek, winning the first set on the strength of two breaks of serve, and five aces.
However, Stepanek's serve and volley style was up to the task of combating his lanky opponent's ground strokes. Gaining a mid-set break of serve against Cilic, Stepanek saved all three break points against his serve in the second set, leveling the match at one set a piece.
The third set involved a similar storyline to set two, with the fiery Czech player capitalizing on a break of serve to lead 1-0, and then breaking serve again to lead 3-0.
It was evident that Cilic was fatigued throughout the two-hour and two-minute contest. Cilic's renowned footwork was a step flow, and his serve, which usually spins off the court relentlessly, didn't have the same jump on a consistent basis.
The 6'6" Zagreb native will now require Fernando Verdasco to lose before the Valencia Open 500 final, in order to remain in contention for the Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London.
With the win, Stepanek heads to his fourth semifinal of the season, and his fifth career meeting with No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic, who overcame an early barrage of good form from Stan Wawrinka, rebounded to oust his Swiss opponent 3-6, 7-6 (5), and 6-2.
Djokovic's mental fortitude was on full display during his two-hour and 18-minute victory. After losing the first set by being broken on one of two occasions, Djokovic stormed back to re-brake Wawrinka after trailing 2-1 in the second set.
With a tiebreak on the horizon, Wawrinka missed a crucial volley at 4-5, which cost him a set point. Djokovic's spirits were immediately lifted, aiding the Serb to dominate for the remainder of the contest.
Djokovic's triumph was just another example of how crucial momentum is in sports. Wawrinka had his look at finishing off Djokovic, but with the loss of the second set, the talented Swiss player lost belief, and drive.
Djokovic will take a 4-1 head-to-head lead into his semifinal clash against Stepanek, winning the previous three meetings.
Stepanek will need to win in Basel this week in order to have a realistic chance of qualifying for London.
Elsewhere, matches that are still to come on Friday in Basel will include:
Roger Federer vs. Evgeny Korolev, and Richard Gasquet vs. Marco Chiudinelli.
Federer, who is the three-time defending champ of the 250-point event, takes a 1-0 head-to-head lead over his Russian opponent.
Korolev, who was defeated in convincing fashion by Federer at the Australian Open in January, will be in search of his third semifinal of the season (Florida and Houston), while contesting his sixth quarterfinal of the year.
The Gasquet-Chiudinelli contest will feature two of the finer comeback stories of 2009.
Gasquet, who was suspended for two-and-a-half months earlier this year for involuntary cocaine use, has rebounded nicely since the US Open, reaching the semifinals in Metz, France, the quarterfinals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while still remaining in the hunt this week in Basel.
Chiudinelli, who fell off the world computer last season with a slew of injuries, finds himself in a position to gain entry into the Top 50 in the world for the first time in his career.
The Basel-born 28-year-old, who currently resides at the No. 73 spot, has qualified for seven Tour-level events this season, reaching the quarterfinals in Bangkok, Thailand, the third round of the US Open, and winning the Challenger level event in Tenerife, Spain.
Gasquet leads Chiudinelli 1-0 in career meetings heading into the Basel quarterfinal.
Valencia Open 500—Spain
World No. 4 Andy Murray, who is seeing his first action on Tour since losing in the fourth round of the US Open in September, defeated hometown hopeful Albert Montanes 6-4, and 6-2.
In a contest which featured Murray winning four-of-10 break point opportunities, the Scot, who is in search of his sixth title of the year in Spain, won 77 percent of his first serve points, while hitting three aces.
Montanes, who was attempting to win the third title of his season on home soil, was immediately put under fire against the early ball striking of his higher ranked opponent.
With the win, Murray improved to 61-9 on the year, while Montanes fell to 23-20 on the season.
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