Federer Claims 41st Win In Basel; Faces Wawrinka Next

© Getty ImagesFour-time champion Roger Federer notched his 41st win in Basel.

Four-time champion Roger Federer notched his 41st win at the Swiss Indoors Basel on Friday as he dismissed long-time rival Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 500 indoor event. Defeat for Roddick ended the American’s outside chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Hometown hero Federer broke serve in the eighth game of the first set, capitalising on a first serve percentage of 47 per cent from Roddick, to clinch the opener. He then raced through the second set with two breaks to clinch victory in 64 minutes. He improved to a 41-7 event record.

"We’ve played on so many occasions that sometimes you can’t play your best, and that’s what happened to Andy today," said Federer, who improved to a 21-2 career lead over Roddick. "He didn’t have a very good serving day and then once I get a chance to get into all his service games, it’s always going to be difficult for him to find a way."

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Basel is the only non-Grand Slam event where Federer has won more than 40 matches. He won three successive titles from 2006-2008 and lifted the trophy for a fourth time last year with victory over Novak Djokovic; he has also finished runner-up on three occasions.

"It’s one of the highlights of the year for me to be playing here in Basel," said Federer. "I grew up here and spent over 20 years in this city. I know my way round, it feels very special and I see so many familiar faces when I look around the stadium.  My dream was to maybe play once in qualifying or on centre court, back in the day, now here I am playing and getting the best player of all time award here in Basel."

The 30-year-old Federer is bidding to win his second ATP World Tour title of the year, having triumphed at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha in the first week of the season (d. Davydenko). In the semi-finals he goes on to face countryman Stanislas Wawrinka, who also impressed in a 6-2, 6-2 win over German Florian Mayer.

"This is the first time I’ve played Stan here in Switzerland," remarked Federer. "We’ve faced off together 10 times and playing back in Switzerland is particularly special because I come from this town and Stan’s not too far away either. I think it’s a special occasion for Swiss tennis and the Swiss fans. He played incredibly well today, so I think this is going to be the test of the tournament for me so far."

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World No. 19 Wawrinka broke serve four times from nine opportunities and surrendered just nine points on serve as he claimed his 35th win of the season. He will look to overturn a 1-9 record against Federer, with his only victory in their series coming on clay at the 2009 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Federer has won all three of their meetings this season in straight sets.

"I was expecting a very tough match against Florian, he’s a very good player, but I think today I played my best match of the week," said Wawrinka. "I played really good, really aggressive; everything was good. To reach the semi-final here in Basel is very important for me, especially at the end of the season."