Federer Moves on to Basel Quarters
Roger Federer was able to advance at the 2013 Swiss Indoors Basel on Wednesday, defeating Denis Istomin 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. With a win in the finals, which would be Federer’s sixth Basel title, he would qualify for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Federer won the title in 2006-08 and 2010-11, and finished runner-up to Juan Martin del Potro in the final last year.
"It's an amazing atmosphere for me to play in," Federer said. "As a kid I was always thinking about Wimbledon and Basel. For me those were the two great things. It's important to never forget that dream. It's the dream I have been chasing after since I was a kid."
Former Basel finalist Kei Nishikori was defeated in the second round by Ivan Dodig, 6-1, 6-2 in just 57 minutes. Dodig is through to his seventh ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season.
Juan Martin del Potro also advanced, defeating Marcos Baghdatis for the second time in a month, 6-1, 6-2. Del Potro has already won three ATP World Tour 500 tournament titles this year at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, the Citi Open in Washington and Tokyo.
Eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-2, hitting 12 aces and losing just nine of his service points for the victory. Dimitrov will face Federer in the last eight.
Also moving on was Vasek Pospisil who defeated Ivo Karlovic, 6-3, 6-3 in under an hour. France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin built on his first-round upset win over Stanislas Wawrinka by reaching the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke. Roger-Vasselin will next meet Daniel Brands after Brands defeated Lukasz Kubot 6-2, 6-4.
