FEDERER AND NADAL BOTH WIN IN THREE SETS IN BASEL AT THE SWISS INDOORS, THEY ARE ONE ROUND AWAY FROM A POTENTIAL FINAL SHOWDOWN BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 30th October 2015

FEDERER AND NADAL BOTH WIN IN THREE SETS IN BASEL AT THE SWISS INDOORS, THEY ARE ONE ROUND AWAY FROM A POTENTIAL FINAL SHOWDOWN BY RICKY DIMON

epa05003923 Spain's Rafael Nadal in action against Croatia's Marin Cilic during their quarter final match at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 30 October 2015. EPA/ALEXANDRA WEY |

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal inched closer to highly-anticipated title match at the Swiss Indoors Basel on Friday, but neither one did it the easy way. Both legends survived three-setters–Federer against David Goffin and Nadal against Marin Cilic–before booking spots in the semifinals.

In a rematch of last year’s championship showdown, Federer had a much tougher time with Goffin 53 weeks later. The 34-year-old Swiss, who cruised 6-2, 6-2 over the Belgian in 2014, prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Friday night.

“I know David quite well, even though we’ve only played three times now,” Federer commented. “He came to Dubai last year and we practiced together. I knew what he could do, so I wasn’t surprised in the match today when he was returning easily, taking the ball on the rise and distributing it left and right with the forehand. We found great rhythm in the second set and in the third it was up to me.”

Next up for the six-time Basel champion is Jack Sock, who fought past Donald Young 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Federer and Sock will be squaring off for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season. Their only previous meeting came in Indian Wells, where the former world No. 1 coasted 6-3, 6-2. In far better form now, Sock is 35-16 for the year and coming off a runner-up performance in Stockholm.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer in action against Belgium’s David Goffin during their quarter final match at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 30 October 2015. EPA/ALEXANDRA WEY

The other semi will pit Nadal against Gasquet for the 14th time in their careers at the ATP level.

All 13 of their previous encounters have gone Nadal’s way, including five on hard courts (two indoors). The Spaniard has won 21 consecutive sets at Gasquet’s expense dating back to the 2008 Canada Masters. Gasquet actually once got the best of his nemesis, but that came via retirement after the opening set at an indoor Challenger event in France back in 2003.

Nadal appears to be heating up as the season comes to a close. The world No. 7 reached the Beijing final and the Shanghai semis, and so far this week in addition to his defeat of Cilic he has oulasted Lukas Rosol and Grigor Dimitrov. Gasquet has taken out Jiri Vesely, Dominic Thiem, and Ivo Karlovic–the latter in a third-set tiebreaker.

In Valencia, meanwhile, Steve Johnson is still keeping up with his countryman Sock. While Sock finished runner-up last week in Stockholm, Johnson also reached a final (lost to David Ferrer in Vienna). Now the former Southern California standout is through to another semifinal after downing Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-4.

Johnson will face a third consecutive Spaniard–Roberto Bautista Agut–on Saturday.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp World Tour, Basel tennis news, David Goffin, jack sock, Rafa Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Swiss Indoors

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10sBalls_com says:

October 30, 2015 at 6:54 pm

Federer And Nadal Both Win In Three Sets At The #SwissIndoors, They Are One Round Away From A Poten… by @Dimonator https://t.co/ySIOF76XHF
Dimonator says:

October 30, 2015 at 7:14 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Federer And Nadal Both Win In Three Sets At The #SwissIndoors, They Are One Round Away From A Poten… by @Dimonator http…