"It was a good match for me and I'm pleased to be back in the semi-finals," said the world number one.
"It cannot have been easy for him playing a top 10 player. I had to play aggressive, but by the fourth game of the match, I knew what I had to do."
Federer took 24 of his 25 first serve points and broke the Frenchman twice in each set to advance in just 54 minutes. The top seed has won 32 of his last 33 matches in Basel and is aiming to get through to his seventh straight final at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament.
On Saturday, Federer will take on wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu. Federer has won all five of their previous meetings.
"I'm looking forward to playing Paul-Henri, he's from my generation. It's good to see him back as well after his knee problems. I'm looking forward to the match."
The Swiss has captured a season-leading six tour-level trophies in 2012. He won his 17th major title at Wimbledon (d. Murray) and triumphed at three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells (d. Isner), Madrid (d. Berdych) and Cincinnati (d. Djokovic). He is looking to defend crucial points in the battle for the year-end South African Airways ATP No. 1 Ranking with Novak Djokovic. Last year, Federer finished the 2011 season on a 17-match win streak, lifting three straight trophies in Basel, the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Date: 26th October 2012, Source: ATP and AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment