Federer reaches semis; Gonzalez falls in Basel

Basel, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Hometown hero Roger Federer was among Friday's quarterfinal winners, while last year's runner-up and former champion Fernando Gonzalez went by way of the upset at the $1.2 million Swiss Indoors tennis event.
The top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer handled German Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-2 at St. Jakobshalle. The Swiss Federer captured his 544th career singles victory, making him the active wins leader on the ATP. Former world No. 1 Carlos Moya is second to Federer, with 543 wins.
Federer topped the Chilean Gonzalez in last year's Basel finale and was the back-to-back runner-up in his hometown in 2000 and 2001.
The reigning U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Federer was last week's Madrid Masters runner-up to Argentine star David Nalbandian.
Federer is now two match wins away from clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking for a fourth straight year. His semifinal opponent on Saturday will be 6- foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic, who upended fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (15-13).
Karlovic needed 38 aces in 2 hours, 37 minutes to upset Berdych, as neither player recorded a service break in a match where there were only three break- point chances throughout.
A second-seeded Gonzalez succumbed to capable Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 7-5 on Day 4 here. "Gonzo" titled here in 2005 and was also the runner-up in 2002.
Nieminen's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be 2005 Basel runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, as the Cypriot knocked out eighth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).