Djokovic to face Japan's Nishikori in Basel

By Bill Scott Nov 4, 2011, 19:21 GMT

Basle, Switzerland - Top seed Novak Djokovic rallied from a set down to continue his injury comeback with a win into the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors on Friday.

The Serb, who owns ten titles this season and is playing for the first time in six weeks after a back injury, defeated Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

He will hope to continue his progress with a challenge against Japan's breakthrough player Kei Nishikori, who needed almost three hours for a win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Djokovic said he was pleased to overcome a slow start against Baghdatis, a 2005 finalist in the Swiss hometown of Roger Federer. A break mid-way through the second set made the difference for the world number one.

'In the first set, well, I had no life on the court,' confessed the Serb. 'But I made the crucial break at 3-2 and that was the key to the match.

'I had my chance to comeback in the match and I did. I know my game will get better. I'm just impatient for that to happen.'

Doohickey said that while he knows it will take days for his game to return to its former world-beating level, he's keen to make the return as quickly as possible.

'It's frustrating not to be able to do what you want on the court. I just have to stay patient. These kind of matches - he also struggled in the first round - are good for me.

'I'm building confidence and form,' he said.

Baghdatis fired a dozen aces but was broken three times in 98 minutes.

Nishikori has had a solid Basle debut, beating fourth seed Tomas Berdych in the first round. The Japanese player, ranked 32nd, spend two hours, 40 minutes in carving out his victory over Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.

Nishikori, usually coached from a distance on email by San Francisco coach Brad Gilbert, said he could have made life easier on himself.

'I didn't really expect to play three sets, since I was up a break in the second. But I started struggling a bit. In the third I played the last three games really well to end with the win,' he said.

'Another semi-final is a great result,' said the player who will get a Special Exempt entry into Paris Bercy next week. 'It's a great feeling,'

Nishikori has now won six of seven quarter-finals in his breakthrough 2011 season. He broke Kukushkin seven times.

The semi-finalist at Kuala Lumpur and the Shanghai Masters in October, has beaten two Top 10 players in that period, with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a Shanghai second-round victim and Tomas Berdych going down to the Asian ace in the Basle first round.