Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Djokovic steamrolls into Basel quarters

Novak Djokovic double-bageled his opponent on Thursday to ease into the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors.

The second-seeded world No. 3 Djokovic blasted Czech Jan Hernych 6-0, 6-0 in a mere 52 minutes on Day 4 at St. Jakobshalle.

Another seeded second-round victor on Thursday was No. 4 Croat Marin Cilic, who barely snuck past Serbian Viktor Troicki 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (8-6). Cilic needed just over three hours to prevail.

Sixth-seeded Swiss crowd favorite Stanislas Wawrinka advanced with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen.

In other second-round action, Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev stopped France's Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), Frenchman Richard Gasquet came back to best American John Isner 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2 and wild card Marco Chiudinelli overcame qualifier and fellow Swiss Michael Lammer 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Friday's quarterfinals will pit top-seeded Basel hero Roger Federer against Korolev, Djokovic versus Wawrinka, Cilic against fifth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek and Gasquet versus Chiudinelli.

The reigning three-time Basel champion Federer, who once served as a ball boy here in his hometown, defeated his long-time rival David Nalbandian in last year's finale.

The all-time men's Grand Slam king Federer is playing his first tennis since losing to Argentine slugger Juan Martin del Potro in September's U.S. Open final.

The winner of this $2.59 million event will collect $430,000.

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