Federer Flies Into Basel QFs, Faces Simon Friday; Thiem-Nishikori In Vienna
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Roger Federer rolled into the Basel quarterfinals Thursday beating Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-5. The 8-time champion has now his last 17 matches at his home event, and is a perfect 10-0 in sets against the German Struff.
“I was ready for Struff to come out and swing,” said Federer. “I didn’t know how aggressive he was going to play or how much serve and volley he was going to do. But unfortunately, I didn’t have the best first two service games. But he also played well, I must say. He connected well, he came out with a plan and it worked for him.
“In the second set it was close throughout, but I think I was able to clean up my game a little bit.”
Next up for the 37-year-old Swiss is a Friday date with veteran Gilles Simon who upended Ernests Gulbis. Federer leads the Frenchman 6-2 in their series.
A trio of youngsters also advanced. Alexander Zverev won is 51st match defeated Aussie qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-4.
Fresh off his first title over the weekend, Stefanos Tsitsipas stayed hot crushing Peter Gojowczyk 6-3, 6-1 and Daniil Medvedev ousted Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 6-2.
Tomorrow in the quarterfinals, Taylor Fritz faces Marius Copil, Zverev battles Roberto Bautista Agut, Tsitsipas meets Medvedev and Federer collides with Simon.
The Vienna quarterfinal line-up is headlined by Kei Nishikori against Dominic Thiem, Borna Coric tests Kevin Anderson and Gael Monfils faces Fernando Verdasco.
“It’s going to be very important. Still, I think for both of us, when we are on court the only thing we want is to win,” Thiem said. “Kei and me, we’ve had some very nice matches in the past and I’m sure it’s going to be a fun one tomorrow.”
Nishikori leads 2-1 over the home Austrian, but Thiem won their most recent meeting at the French Open this year.
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