A surprising turn of the match, considering its start: Cilic came out firing, finding all the right shots from the baseline and punishing Stepanek for weak approach shots with precise passing winners. Cilic, the fourth seed this week, stormed to a 4-0 lead and even though Stepanek got one break back, convincingly won the first set 6-4.

The second set then saw the Czech fifth seed going up 3-0, then 5-3, with Cilic unable to convert his lone break chance. He got another two with Stepanek serving for the set. On the first break point, Stepanek’s first serve was called out but the Chair Umpire interrupted the player’s preparation for the second serve him to ask if he wanted to challenge. Stepanek followed his advice and got the ace.

Stepanek fought off the second breakpoint, too, to serve out the second set, then broke Cilic’s serve in his second service game of the third set. Stepanek was constantly attacking, following almost every shot to the net, where he won the majority of points, including the final four to put the ring around Cilic’s neck and break for the final set, 6-3.


High Striker

The match of the day saw Stanislas Wawrinka taking on the No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic. Coming into the match, Djokovic lead their head-to-head 6-2, having won all of their last five encounters. But it was the Swiss who got off to a better start, breaking his opponent with a beautiful down-the-line backhand winner to go up 5-3 in the first set. He saved a break chance in the following game with an ace and converted his third set point when Djokovic missed a forehand.


In the second set, it was again Wawrinka who got the early advantage when he broke Djokovic with a forehand winner to go up 4-3. Following the match, Djokovic admitted that up to that point, Wawrinka was in control of the match and that the Serb needed a bit of luck. He got it when Wawrinka missed an easy backhand, down break point in the following game, to level the set 4-4. Both players then held serve to take the set to a tiebreak. In the decider, Djokovic took control. Wawrinka was now defending more than attacking and when he tried to break free with heavy ground strokes, he missed. His final attempt at a backhand winner flew over a meter wide.

It was a different match in the third set, with Wawrinka looking resigned and his level of play continuing to drop. He made more unforced errors and was not serving as well as before. Djokovic, on the other hand, hardly missed any shots anymore and dominated the Swiss, 6-2.


Bonus Round

Basel native Marco Chiudinelli stormed past Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-3 to reach his first ever ATP World Tour semifinal. While, on Thursday, Chiudinelli had admitted to feeling nervous and tired at the start of the match, he wasn’t lacking energy today.


The Swiss broke Gasquet three times in the opening set, while fighting off all three break points against him. The second set was closer only by score. Chiudinelli only broke Gasquet once, but did not face a single break point and lost only three points on serve, two of them in the final game. Gasquet had to take a medical timeout after the first set to get treatment on his shoulder. Later he told the press that, in the morning, the pain he had was so bad that he was unable to serve. But the Frenchman was quick to give his opponent credit. “Even if I was at my best, I am not sure I could beat him today. He played very well in front of his home crowd.”


Pony Carousel

A modern German saying goes, “Life is no pony farm,” meaning that things aren’t always sweet and easy. Well, Roger Federer can make it look easy at times. He was facing Evgeny Korolev, who made it out of qualifying to his fourth consecutive quarterfinal. The young Russian has a good serve and hits the ball incredibly hard which makes his game perfectly suited for the fast conditions on Center Court. Federer later said in his on-court interview that his first priority against Korolev had to be to just keep the ball in play, then to be aggressive himself. In both sets, Federer broke Korolev in his third service game, but then had to fight off re-break chances in his following service games. After he broke Korolev a third time to go up 5-2 in the second set, however, he hit four consecutive winners to serve out the match at love.

On Saturday, Novak Djokovic will face Radek Stepanek, while Federer will take on his good friend Marco Chiudinelli for his fourth consecutive final at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors. As any fair promoter would say: “Lean back and enjoy the show."


More photos from the 2009 Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel.
Photos: Tina van Eickels