Roger Federer Faces Kiefer Again; Berdych v. Karlovic Also in Basel

The World No. 1 and defending champ Roger Federer is among eight players seeking one of four semifinal berths at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel on Friday, as all four quarterfinal matches take the court. Also bidding for semifinal berths are Nicholas Kiefer, Ivo Karlovic, Thomas Berdych and Fernando Gonzalez in this, the second-to-last week of the ATP regular season circuit.

Second seed Fernando Gonzalez tries to maintain his mastery over Jarkko Nieminen in the first match of the day on Center Court. Gonzalez is playing in his ninth quarterfinal of the year, going 3-5 in his first eight (all three times he has passed the quarterfinals, he has passed the semis as well). By winning his second round match on Thursday, the Chilean improved to 15-3 lifetime at this stop; he is a one-time champion here (2005), a two-time runner-up (in 2002 to David Nalbandian and in 2006 to Roger Federer) and fell first round once (2004). Nieminen will have a tough task ahead of him - not only has he never beaten Gonzalez in four meetings (winning only one set), but he is also 1-4 against Top 10 players this year (his only win coming over Tommy Robredo at AMS Cincinnati).

But the Finn has played some clutch tennis so far this week, rallying back from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Robby Ginepri in the first round, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 (saving match point down 5-2) and beating No. 6 seed Guillermo Canas 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the second round (saving two match points down 5-4).

Eighth seed and wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu plays Marcos Baghdatis next. Mathieu is playing in his eighth quarterfinal of the year (5-2 in his first seven) while Baghdatis is playing in his ninth of the year (4-4 in his first eight). Their only previous match was a tight one that went in the Frenchman’s favor at Queen’s Club two years ago.

Their previous records at this event contrast, however - they have both played here just once previously, with Mathieu falling in the first round in straight sets in 2003 (to Arnaud Clement) and Baghdatis making it all the way to the final in 2005 (finishing runnerup to Gonzalez in four sets). Both men were pushed to three sets in their second rounds this week.

In a rematch of last week’s AMS Madrid semifinal, top seed Roger Federer plays Nicolas Kiefer. Playing his first ATP event since winning his fourth straight US Open crown, Federer made the final in the Spanish capital last week with ease, not dropping his serve once (including during a win over Kiefer in the semis) before losing to David Nalbandian in the final, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. He is trying to claim his second straight title here, having won the event in his home country last year. Should he defend his title, the Swiss would also clinch the year-end World No. 1 ranking for the fourth straight season.

But although he has won nine of 12 career meetings with Kiefer (including the last eight straight), it won’t be easy as the German has made a strong comeback in the second half of this season after missing over a year with a left wrist injury. He hurt his wrist at Roland Garros in May 2006 and was out of action until June 2007, falling off the rankings for three weeks from June 18 and July 8 earlier this season. Since returning during the grass court season he has moved all the way up to No. 64 on the strength of three semifinals (including last week; this week he rose from No. 112 to No. 64). But Kiefer has an 0-8 mark against No. 1s (falling to Pete Sampras once and Federer seven times).

Fifth seed Tomas Berdych rounds out the day as he takes on Ivo Karlovic. Berdych has been in solid form since the fall season began, reaching back-to-back semifinals at Bangkok and Tokyo and pushing eventual Madrid champion David Nalbandian to three sets in the Spanish capital last week. He will face Karlovic in a rematch of their recent Bangkok quarterfinal, in which Berdych broke once per set for a 7-5, 6-4 win. Karlovic, who is having his best ever year (winning his first three career ATP singles titles and cracking the Top 25), passed the second-best all-time season aces total last week in Madrid (1,169 - Goran Ivanisevic in 1994), emerging with 1,194; and after hitting 40 more in his first two matches this week, he has climbed to 1,234.

He’ll have to do a lot of work to get to his countryman’s all-time total of 1,477, though (set in 1996). Both men have played here once before - both in 2005 - with Berdych reaching the second round (falling to Andy Murray) and Karlovic falling first round (to Nalbandian). The winner of this match could play Federer in the semis. (ATP Digital Services)