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Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel—Switzerland
No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic overcome a one set deficit and three match points to defeat Radek Stepanek 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals of Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel on Saturday.
Stepanek, who won the opening set on strength of winning 86 percent of his first serve points (18-21), struck four aces, while saving both of the break point opportunities against his serve.
Djokovic, who had to fight off a stern challenge from Stan Wawrinka on Friday, overcoming a set and break against the Swiss, began sluggish in the second set against his Czech opponent, finding himself down triple match point in the ninth game.
After staring defeat in the eye, Djokovic rebounded to save the first match point with a winning forehand, the second with a service winner and the third with yet another unreturned forehand.
Stepanek, who grew visibly dejected after squandering his match points, dropped his serve in the ensuing game, allowing Djokovic to attain complete control of the encounter.
As is usually the case when a player loses a match he should have won, Stepanek was broken on two occasions in the third set, once in first game, and later in the seventh. The Czech Davis Cup hero was never able to fully recover after failing to convert on his match points.
Djokovic's commendable performance, which lasted two hours and 31 minutes, will take the second seeded Serb into his Tour-leading ninth final of the season.
Djokovic assessed his win over Stepanek in his post match presser.
“I wouldn’t say necessarily it was my good shots that prevented the loss. It was luck only,” Djokovic said. “I just tried to get some first serves in and at least get that advantage. On this (hard-court) surface, it’s crucial.”
Djokovic, who also leads the Tour with 70 match wins this year, will take a 9-4 career head-to-head deficit against his finals opponent Roger Federer.
The Swiss No. 1 enjoyed an interesting victory over longtime child friend Marco Chiudinelli, defeating his countryman 7-6 (7), 6-3.
The high quality first set featured both men recording 78 percent of their first serves in, while saving five break points in total.
After capturing the first set which was highlighted by a nail-biting tiebreak, Federer settled in, and rolled through the second set.
Converting on his lone break point opportunity in the seventh game of the set, Federer improved his year-to-date record to 59-8, while remaining in the hunt for his forth straight title in Basel.
Chiudinelli, who increased his bid for comeback player of the year this week, will be ranked in the top 50 for the first time in his career on Monday.
Chiudinelli had fell as low as No. 884 at the end of last, while completely losing his ranking in March of 2008.
A productive 2009 campaign has seen Chiudinelli qualify for seven Tour-level events, which includes, reaching the quarterfinals in Bangkok (l. Tsonga), advancing to the third round of the US Open (l. Davydenko), and winning a Challenger level event in Tenerife, Spain.
Chiudinelli's semifinal loss to Federer was played under great admiration, considering the two combatants grew up together, riding their bikes to training sessions as juniors.
A nice moment was shared at the net after Federer served out the match, congratulating his colleague on his great week of tennis.
Federer will now look towards his 13th career battle with Djokovic.
The pair have split their four previous meetings this year, with Federer winning the last two encounters in Cincinnati and the US Open. Djokovic defeated Federer in the semifinals of both the Miami and Roma Masters 1000 events.
Djokovic was candid after his win over Stepanek, alluding to the difficulties of playing Federer.
“If I play Marco it will obviously be better for me,” Djokovic said. “If I play Roger it’s going to be a tough one.”
Considering the long matches which Djokovic has had to endure this week, compared with the effortless fashion which Federer has dismantled his four previous opponents, the odds of a Federer victory would be substantial.
Federer alluded to his required level of play against Djokovic on Sunday.
“I’m ready for a tough match. Novak’s played solid tennis during the week,” said Federer.
However, Djokovic has shown incredible resilience this week, proving that he can defeat any opponent on the circuit.
Nevertheless, a dynamic final awaits in Basel.
Valencia Open 500—Spain
Mikhail Youzhny won an all-Russian affair against Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday, defeating the No. 2 seed 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
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