Swiss Indoors Basel, Switzerland

[CR11] Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs. [CR19] Dominic Thiem (AUT)

Gasquet met a lot of resistance in the first set from Thiem, who started off well; however, the veteran found his range and solved the riddle of Thiem’s game. Thiem served too poorly to get comfortable off the ground and that worked against him as the match progressed. It is mentally draining to constantly struggle on serve and it was inevitable that he easily lost the tiebreak, which depends heavily on one’s ability to hold serve.  The cumulative deleterious effect of struggling to hold serve and then losing the first set carried over into the second set.  All Gasquet needed to do was stay focused and patiently wait for Thiem to crack.  Gasquet won their first encounter 7-6(1), 6-4 and plays Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals.

Federer Continues His Dominance Of Kohlschreiber

[CR3] Roger Federer (SUI) vs.  [CR32] Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)

Federer was pushed a little by Kohlschreiber, but he expected that. Yet, surprisingly, this was only the third time that Kohlschreiber won a set from Federer.  It becomes more of a mental battle when you have never won a match against your opponent in ten attempts. In the deepest recesses of his mind, he may even begin to doubt whether he ever will.  Unfortunately, that small degree of uncertainty is enough to guarantee that he never will.  Until Kohlschreiber can find a way to forget that he has never beaten Federer, he never will and time is not on his side.  Federer continues to play quality tennis, occasionally as expected there will be dips in his game; however, he usually seems to find a way to regain his focus. After dropping the second set, a momentary lapse in concentration, Federer refocused and took advantage of his one break opportunity to win the match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.