By Chris Oddo | Thursday October 29, 2015
Roger Federer edged Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets to reach the Basel quarterfinals on Thursday.
Photo Source: Getty Images
It wasn’t the vintage Roger Federer that usually shows up at the Swiss Indoors Basel, but in the end it was a good enough version of the Swiss maestro to secure a hard-fought, tooth-and-nail straight sets win over a familiar opponent on Thursday in Basel.
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Federer’s 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber marks his 58th career win at Basel and places him three matches from a seventh title at his hometown.
Federer made a quick start, breaking Kohlschreiber in the pair’s 11th career meeting when he pressured the German into netting a forehand for 3-2. Backed by crisp serving he would hold the rest of the way to close the opener with zero break points faced and only two first-serve points lost.
In the second set Kohlschreiber’s game started to make inroads, and the German was flawless on serve, dropping only four points in five games.
With Federer serving to stay alive in the set at 4-5 Kohlschreiber would play two clutch points in succession to steal the set from 30-all. He hammered a smoking forehand winner crosscourt that kissed the line for a clean winner and on the next point he charged the net impulsively, teasing Federer into netting a backhand.
With the pressure on in the decider both players held their nerve through their first four service games. Finally, Federer worked over Kohlschreiber with some world-class defense to grab the break in the ninth game after a frenzied break point resulted in a forced forehand error by Kohlschreiber.
Federer would then take the balls to serve out the match calmly, dropping only one point and closing the victory with a forehand volley into the open court.
Federer advances to face David Goffin in the quarterfinals. It’s a rematch of last year’s final which saw Federer nail down his 6th career title in Basel as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Federer struck 35 winners against 21 unforced errors on the evening, to go with 13 aces. He improved to 54-9 on the season with five titles.