By Chris Oddo | Saturday, October 25, 2014
Make that eleven wins in a row to go with eleven Basel finals for 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.
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The 33-year-old Swiss Maestro edged past Ivo Karlovic for the 12th time in 13 career meetings, 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-3, to set up an intriguing final at the Swiss Indoors Basel with red-hot David Goffin of Belgium.
Federer, who will bid for career title No. 82 and his fifth of the season, had to battle past Karlovic on a day where the Croat’s thundering serve was in fine form.
Karlovic saved all three break points he faced in a close first set to get to a tiebreaker, and he earned two set points in the tiebreaker, too. But Karlovic’s good fortunes took a dip as Federer saved the first with an ace and the world No. 31 botched a slice backhand on the next. Eventually, Federer cracked a backhand crosscourt winner to claim the set, marking his ninth successful tiebreaker of 2014.
But Karlovic, who cracked 33 aces on the day and was virtually unstoppable for much of the day from the service stripe, would fight back to claim a decisive break in the eighth game of the set before serving to level in the next game.
The hard-serving Croatian did show a tiny crack in his armor in the third game of the third set however, and Federer didn’t even need to take advantage of it as Karlovic poured in an ill-timed double fault at 15-40 to give what was essentially the match to Federer.
Federer would hold easily the rest of the way to improve his career record at his hometown event to 54-9 in fifteen career appearances.
He will bid for his sixth Basel title on Sunday, and his first since 2011(d. Nishikori). Federer has fallen in the final for the last two years, each time to Juan Martin del Potro.