By Bill Scott Nov 6, 2009, 18:30 GMT
Basle, Switzerland - Second seed Novak Djokovic salvaged his successful debut week at the Swiss Indoors, recovering from a set and a break down to oust six seed Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 for a place in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The Serbian will Saturday play Czech Radek Stepanek a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic.
Cilic's loss leave him with a huge task if the provisional 12th-placed player is to saying he race for one of two remaining places in the eight-man season final in London later in the month.
Djokovic has won four of five matches against Stepanek, including a US Open fourth round two months ago.
The victory in just over two and a quarter hours was markedly more laboured than the 0-0 rout Djokovic inflicted 24 hours earlier on luckless Czech Jan Henrych, first 'double bagel' of his career.
'This was much more than just a test,' Djokovic said of the Wawrinka win. 'I was a qualify match against Stan with a lot of pressure.'
The Serb ranked fourth in the world but with a chance to climb to second given the right circumstances as the ATP season nears an end, got a break back in the eighth game as he began to turn the tide against Wawrinka, whose six-months-pregnant girlfriend was cheering him on from the box.
Djokovic won a second-set tiebreaker to stay in the chase, then ran away with the third set on the back of two quick breaks which left Waswrinka with few hopes as the Swiss saved one match point but couldn't handle a return at his feet on the second.
'I served well and got a lot of balls back from 4-3 in the second set (when he then broke back for 4-4). I had some good luck in the tiebreak, then the third set was another story.'
Djokovic said the contest was decided on a handful of points. 'I held my nerve in those moments. I was able to play every point and wait.
'I didn't feel so great at the start, I needed time to get my engines running,' said the 22-year-old. 'At the start it was tough for me to get moving.'
Unseeded Marco Chiudinelli gave Switzerland a win as he hammered Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-3.
Three-time Roger Federer, winner of his last 17 Basle matches, was aiming to claim a fourth consecutive title at home when he played the showcase match against Russian Evgeny Korolev.
This edition marks the second time that three Swiss had reached the quarter-finals in an ATP event, the previous being Basle eight years ago though Federer, George Bastl and Michel Kratochvil.
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