It is a sure sign of living in someone else’s shadow when your most famous attribute seems to be your relationship with that someone. Just ask Roger Federer’s Olympic doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka, his former roommate Michael Lammer, or his childhood friend Marco Chiudinelli. But since Thursday was Federer’s day off, it was his compatriots’ turn to take the stage on Center Court, enjoying full attention from the home crowd and press. 
Michael Lammer was going for only his third ATP-level match win
Today, he was out for his first consecutive win. Right from the start, there was little indication that he is ranked 96 places below his opponent. Lammer overcame three breakpoints in his very first service game. In turn, he won two games off Chiudinelli’s serve to take the first set 6-2. He was moving well, returning well and his favorite shot, his one-handed backhand, clicked. It was the closest he has ever gotten to a quarterfinal.
“The tournament has showed that my career is far from over,” the 27-year-old would say afterward. But he seems to be setting his ambitions realistically. “Marco, he has made it. He has established himself [as a top 100-player],” Lammer noted. And one could hear the respect in his voice.
Meet the Comeback Player
Though Marco Chiudinelli had to rally from one set down, his ATP Comeback Player of the Year qualifications, of course, aren’t defined by today’s match. Rather, Chiudinelli could qualify by having climbed 708 places up the rankings in 2009. A knee surgery in November 2007 had seen him out of competition until August 2008, with his ranking plummeting down to No. 779. But since the beginning of the year, he has won a Challenger title, reached his first ever quarterfinal in Bangkok, which he said was, “like crossing a barrier, after having been chasing third rounds for so long,” and gained a career-high ranking of No. 71.
Marco Chiudinelli
After beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round, Chiudinelli considered himself the “heavy favorite” going in the match against his good friend Lammer, with whom he won the 2009 doubles title in Gstaad. Maybe it was because of this self-assessment that Chiudinelli couldn’t share Lammer’s positive evaluation of the close match. “It was a lot of fight, but very little class,” he told the media afterward. When asked why he wasn’t “jumping for joy,” he added, “I am completely exhausted. The match has drained my energy.” He admitted to feeling very nervous before the match, and he found it mentally difficult to play such a good friend. While he credited Lammer for his returning and reading his game well, he thought his own aggressiveness was key for turning the match around.
In fact, Chiudinelli had been the more aggressive player throughout the match. He served well and hit closer to the lines than his opponent. But he needed to cut down on his unforced errors, which he eventually managed in the second and third sets. And with Lammer seeming to get tired, Chiudinelli advanced 2-6. 6-3, 6-3.
Meet the Rollercoaster Man
In the last singles match on Center Court, Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka was facing Finland's Jarkko Nieminen for the remaining spot in the quarterfinals. Both players took turns in dominating the match with Nieminen going up 5-3 in the first set, before Wawrinka won four straight games to take it, 7-5. Then it was all Nieminen again, 6-2 in the second, before Wawrinka stormed through the third 6-1. At their good moments, both players showed that their current ranking (Wawrinka is at No. 21 and Nieminen at No. 122) doesn’t match their abilities, something that is especially true of Nieminen who was sidelined by injury for three-and-a-half months earlier this season. Wawrinka proved that he has the strokes and the talent that made him a Top 10 player in 2008, but also that he is lacking the consistency.
Stanislas Wawrinka
Meetings to Come
Tomorrow, Chiudinelli and Wawrinka will be back on Center Court. Chiudinelli will face Richard Gasquet, who edged past John Isner 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-2. The match was highlighted by the second set tiebreak, in which Gasquet saved two match points before converting his fifth set point.
Wawrinka will play second seed Novak Djokovic. who served his first ever double bagel to Czech Jan Hernych this afternoon. “It is hard to talk about the match,” the Serb said afterward. “His [Hernych’s] level of play was very low today. I didn’t feel any pressure in his service games.”
Djokovic beat Hernych in 52 minutes today.
As there were today, there will be three Swiss men playing tomorrow. But this time, one of them will be named Federer, and his shadow will loom over Switzerland yet again.
More photos from the 2009 Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel.
Photos: Tina van Eickels