Basel: Roger Federer was stretched to the limit by Gilles Simon before overcoming the valiant Frenchman 7-6(6-1), 4-6, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of his hometown Swiss Indoors tennis tournament Friday.
The Swiss needed two and half hours to finally break his opponent’s resistance as he claimed his 18th successive win at the tournament, which he is aiming to win for the ninth time.
There was an early warning when Simon broke in the second game and raced to a 5-2 lead. World No.3 Federer fought back to 5-5, then saved a set point in the 12th game before winning 7-1 in the tiebreak.
The second set produced five breaks of serve — three to Simon and two to Federer — before the Frenchman, ranked 32nd, held serve in the 10th game to level the match at 1-1.
Federer broke in the second game of the final set but Simon refused to give in and replied in the seventh. But he finally lost his nerve in the 12th game when two unforced errors in a row handed Federer the match.
On the other hand second seed Alexander Zverev also went through with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Roberto Bautista Agut, his 52nd win of the year. The fifth ranked is aiming for his fourth ATP title of the season.
Kei dashes Thiem hopes
Vienna: Top seed Dominic Thiem’s dream of a home win in the Vienna Open tennis tournament ended Friday after losing in the quarterfinals to Kei Nishikori. Thiem, hoping to become the third Austrian to win the tournament in its 45-year history, went down 3-6, 1-6 to the fifth-seeded Nishikori who produced one of his best performances of the year.
