Federer Forte: Roger Reaches the Finals in Basel

When you are in Switzerland playing in front of a deliriously happy home crowd in Basel, then you must be Roger Federer. Or not.

You might also be Marco Chiudinelli, who upended a surging Richard Gasquet to find himself in the semifinals of the Davidoff Swiss Open on Saturday. 

His task will be to defeat Swiss No. 1 Roger Federer, as the world’s top player attempts to win his fourth consecutive Swiss indoor title.  

Earlier in the day, it appeared that Stanislav Wawrinka might also be part of the Swiss party, but after playing superlative tennis for one and three-quarters sets, Swiss No. 2 Wawrinka failed to take advantage of his many opportunities to put Novak Djokovic away. 

In the end, the Serb walked out with the victory, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. Djokovic will play Radek Stepanek on Saturday for a chance to meet one of the Swiss duo in the championship match on Sunday. 

Stepanek slugged his way into the final by defeating Marin Cilic in the first match of the day, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Cilic is still battling for entry into the ATP World Tour Finals in London, but time is definitely running out.

Chiudinelli, who has spent the last few years suffering with myriad injuries, has made an impressive run through his hometown tournament, defeating the No. 8 seed, Phillipp Kohlschreiber, in the opener. 

A wild-card entry, Chiudinelli next met and defeated qualifier Michael Lammer. Today, of course, he waylaid Richard Gasquet in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.  

For Federer, his charge of the day was to defeat the Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev, who arrived in the quarterfinals by defeating Simone Bolelli and then Jeremy Chardy before meeting Federer during the final match of the day on Friday.

Federer won the first set in 29 minutes, 6-3. He won the second set by a 6-2 score. The whole match took a little under an hour. Federer was his normal impressive self, breaking the Russian’s serve once in the first set and twice in the second.  

It was great to watch the master at work again on his canvas of choice. While his matches thus far have been fairly routine, credit must be give to Chiudinelli, who has played the best tennis of his life to get to the semifinals. 

He will not simply hand the match over to Federer. Expect Chiudinelli to fight Federer for every point tomorrow.

Tournament organizers naturally hope for a final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, with the Swiss tournament officials, of course, ultimately desiring a win by their native son. 

Last year, Federer absolutely smoked David Nalbandian in the final to the delight of the hometown crowd.  

Federer’s hope in addition to capturing his hometown tournament for the fourth time in a row is to improve his chances of ending the year at the No. 1 spot regardless of his showing in Paris or in London for the year-end finale.  

In the meantime in the Valencia Open in Spain, the four semifinalists in action there on Saturday are No. 1 seed Andy Murray vs. No. 4 seed Fernando Verdasco.

Much is riding on this match, because year-end seeding depends in large measure on whether Verdasco makes it to the finals in Valencia.

In the other semifinal is where the battle of the Russians continues, as Mikhail Youzhny is back to playing his usual aggressive brand of tennis. He will be looking to defeat No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko, whose seeding in the Barclays ATP year end tournament is still up in the air and would be settled by a win here. 

Next week all the usual suspects head off to Paris for the BNP Paribas Masters. Last year’s defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s physical condition is still in doubt, but he is hopeful to be able to successfully defend his title.  

It is, of course, the ninth and final Master’s event of the season. The drama surrounding the tournament is essential in determining the last entries into the final eight to fight it out round-robin fashion at the Barclays in London. 

So as the year winds down, the heat revs up for the championships this weekend as well as the start of the BNP Paribas Masters.  

Everyone involved in the ATP hopes that London will be the start of something big...