Federer books place in semis
Friday, 26 Oct 2007 21:04
Ruthless Federer books place in semis
Roger Federer has stormed through to the semi finals of his hometown tournament in Basel after beating Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 6-2.
The world number one sealed a record 544th career win in his bid to defend the Swiss indoor title he won last year.
Federer raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set after breaking the German's first service game.
Kiefer, the world number 64, hit back in game five by breaking Federer's serve after sprinting to the net and putting away a forehand.
But the five-time Wimbledon champion broke again with a pinpoint passing shot from behind the baseline on break point.
Federer made an explosive start to the second set by breaking Kiefer's opening service game.
Kiefer, who had lost his last eight meetings with Federer, then wasted three break points off his opponent's next two service games.
Federer punished the veteran by setting-up three break points including a sublimely disguised drop shot.
The Swiss ace converted his first break point with a forehand winner to seal the match in one hour and 11 minutes.
The 12-time grand slam winner insisted it was a hard-fought victory.
"My serve wasn't helping me out much with only the one ace near the end. But I was playing pretty solidly from the baseline and I hope I can continue that way for the rest of the week," Federer said.
Federer will face either Czech Tomas Berdych or man-mountain Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in tomorrow's semi-finals.
The other semi will be between by unseeded pair Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis.