Roger Federer seeking to reclaim Basel crown
Roger Federer has enjoyed title success in his birthplace of Basel three times in his career so far but this time returns seeking to reclaim his crown from Novak Djokovic.
The Swiss Indoors Basel had been one of Federer’s many strongholds before last year’s final, the 16-time Grand Slam champion having won his home tournament in 2006, 2007 and 2008, but after losing the first set, Djokovic produced a comeback victory to snap Federer’s 19-match winning streak in Basel.
While the Serb ultimately ran out a comfortable 4-6, 6-4, 2-6 winner in the final, his path to the decider was decidedly more difficult, with Djokovic surviving three match points against Radek Stepanek in his semi-final match.
The pair are back to battle for the title in 2010, and are the top seeds in a draw that also includes Wimbledon runner-up Thomas Berdych, Andy Roddick - in his return from a thigh injury sustained at the Shanghai Masters - and Jurgen Melzer, who arrives fresh from claiming the title in Vienna this weekend.
While it’s a strong field, Federer takes his place at the head of it having returned to the world No. 2 ranking after losing to Andy Murray in the Shanghai final, a performance he followed up by winning the title at the If Stockholm Open in his most recent competitive outing in October.
That was his 64th career title, drawing him level with Pete Sampras, but well short of Jimmy Connors’ record of 109 tour-level crowns, and surely Federer would fancy breaking another of Sampras’ records on home turf.
Should the two top seeds meet in a repeat of last year’s final, however, picking a winner is no easy task. Federer defeated Djokovic in straight sets the last time they met, in the Shanghai semis, but it was the world No. 3 who took the honours when they met in the US Open semis, as Djokovic saved match points with some daring shot-making on his way to a five set victory.
The 23-year-old is also in some strong autumn form, having claimed the title in Beijing and as defending champion must surely be regarded as the biggest threat to Federer’s aspirations of clinching a fourth Basel title.
First up for Federer though is an opening match against world No. 48 Alexandr Dolgopolov, a player who is yet to cross swords with the reigning Australian Open champion. The match is due to take place tonight at 6.30pm local time.
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