INQUIRER Sports

BASEL—WORLD NUMBER ONE ROGER Federer breezed into the Swiss Indoors semifinals on Friday but the home crowd’s hopes of an all-Swiss final were dashed when Novak Djokovic rallied to beat Stanislas Wawrinka.

Federer overcame Evgeny Korolev, 6-3, 6-2, and will face unseeded compatriot Marco Chiudinelli, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Frenchman Richard Gasquet, in Saturday’s semifinal.

Wawrinka, the other home quarter-finalist, won the first set against the world number three and was a break up in the second.

But the Serb broke back, won the second set tiebreak and eased through the third to win, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Djokovic will face fifth seed Radek Stepanek who beat fourth seed Marin Cilic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Federer, aiming for a fourth successive title in his hometown tournament, broke serve twice in each set against the world number 58, who was never really in the match.

“It was a real test,” said Djokovic, who thrashed Jan Hernych, 6-0 6-0, on Thursday. Reuters