The Swiss Indoors Basel final on Sunday is a blockbuster match-up between top seed and seven-time champion Roger Federer against 2012-13 winner and No. 4 seed Juan Martin del Potro. There is a lot at stake for both players with 200 Emirates ATP Ranking points on the line going to the champion (500 for the week). If Federer wins, he will trail No. 1 Rafael Nadal by 1,460 points going into ATP Masters 1000 Paris. If del Potro wins, he will move into the final spot for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London.

This is their 24th meeting, the fourth in 2017 between the two superstars. Federer holds a 17-6 head-to-head advantage, including 12-6 on hard courts. Del Potro is 3-1 in finals. This is their fourth Basel meeting, third in a final. Federer won here in the second round in 2007 and del Potro won three-set finals in 2012-13. In their last meeting on Oct. 14 in the semi-finals at ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai, Federer won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Federer won the first meeting this season in the third round in Miami on March 27 before the Argentine won in the quarter-finals at the US Open on September 6.

Federer  is appearing in his 13th Basel final (7-5), the most tournament title matches in his career.  The 36-year-old Basel native has only been broken once this week (36 of 37 games held), that coming in the first set against Adrian Mannarino on Friday. He is making his eighth final showing of the season (6-1) and 144th in his career (94-49 in finals). If he captures his 95th title, he will be in 2nd place alone on the Open Era titles list. Ivan Lendl also has 94 titles. Halle (9) and Wimbledon (8) are the other tournaments Federer has won at least eight times.

Del Potro is making his third Basel final appearance and he won back-to-back titles in 2012-13. Last Sunday he won his 20th tour-level title in Stockholm and became the third Argentine in the Open Era with at least 20 titles, joining Guillermo Vilas (62) and Jose-Luis Clerc (25). The 29-year-old Argentine is trying to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 2012 when he captured titles in Vienna and Basel.

Del Potro, who was 47th in the Emirates ATP Race to London on August 28, will move into the final qualifying position for the Nitto ATP Finals in London with a title. He is 18-3 since the start of the US Open and 46-73 lifetime vs. Top 10 opponents (6-10 in 2017). The last time he beat Top 10 opponents in the semi-finals and final was the 2009 US Open, where he defeated No. 3 Nadal and No. 1 Federer in the last two rounds to pick up his biggest career title.

Tsonga Continues Nitto ATP Finals Push In Vienna Final Against Pouille 
The Erste Bank Open 500 championship on Sunday is an all-French match-up as eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2011 champion, takes on Lucas Pouille. This is the first all-French final in tournament history (since 1974) and the second this season on the ATP World Tour. Tsonga defeated Pouille in Marseille in February.

This is the third meeting between the Frenchmen — Tsonga won both matches 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2016 ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo and in this year’s Open 13 Marseille final. Both players have accounted for all six French titles on the ATP World Tour this season, with Tsonga capturing four trophies and Pouille two.

Tsonga is appearing in his fifth ATP World Tour final of the season (4-0) and is trying to become the first Frenchman to win at least five singles titles in a year since Guy Forget won six in 1991. The 32-year-old Frenchman is appearing in his third Vienna final, having won the 2011 title (d. del Potro) and reaching the final last year (l. Murray). Tsonga, comes in with an ATP World Tour-best 20-2 indoor record this season, which includes titles in Rotterdam, Marseille and Antwerp.

Tsonga can pick up 200 points and improve to 2,510 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London standings, leaving him 95 points behind Pablo Carreno Busta, who holds the final spot going into Sunday. Juan Martin del Potro is in the Basel final and could move past the Spaniard with a title. If Tsonga wins, it would also be the 13th time this season a player has won an ATP World Tour title saving match point(s) (Dzumhur, 1 m.p. second round).

Pouille is appearing in his career-best fourth ATP World Tour final (2-1) of the season and is trying to become the first player this season to win titles on three different surfaces. He won on clay in Budapest (d. Bedene) and on grass in Stuttgart (d. Lopez) in June. This is his sixth career ATP World Tour final (3-2).

The 23-year-old has dropped only one set en route to his first Vienna final, in the semi-finals against Kyle Edmund. Pouille has 33 wins in 2017 and if he captures the title will equal last year’s career-best total.

Pace, precision and poise. Roger Federer was at his ruthless best on Saturday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, turning in a vintage performance to reach the final once again on home soil.

The Swiss exhibited a display of stunning aggression against third seed David Goffin, barely putting a wrong foot throughout their 60-minute semi-final encounter. He would blitz the Belgian 6-1, 6-2, firing 20 winners in total, including 12 on his forehand wing and will face Juan Martin del Potro in the final.

“I’m ready for a difficult match and a fully fit del Potro,” said Federer. “He played a great match against me in Shanghai and went on to win Stockholm and won that. Now he’s here in the final again. I think he’s ok. He might be tired, but he doesn’t have issues that would keep him away from the court.”

Federer stood tall on the baseline and refused to allow Goffin to find any rhythm, firing his forehand with alacrity and using his first serve to send a message under the lights at the St. Jakobshalle.

The Swiss would take the opener 6-1 – the third time he has done so this week – with a winner off a forehand approach, and he immediately pounced as the second set got underway. A hyper-aggressive Federer forced a forehand error from Goffin, stealing a break in the first game. He would claim an insurance break with an overhead smash for 5-2 and closed out the victory a game later.

Federer captured 91 per cent (21 of 23) of points on his first serve during the one-hour affair, improving to 11-1 against fellow Top 10 opponents this year. In dropping just three games, it marks his most dominant victory over a Top 10 player since defeating Andy Murray 6-0, 6-1 at the 2014 Nitto ATP Finals.

Seeking an unprecedented eighth Basel crown, Federer will next face longtime rival del Potro on Sunday. He leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head series 17-6, with their two most recent meetings lighting up the highlight reel. Del Potro prevailed in four sets in the US Open quarter-finals, with Federer exacting revenge earlier this month at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Federer will feature in his seventh final of the season, looking to extend a 6-1 record. He is riding a nine-match win streak since falling to del Potro in New York, coming off a second title run in Shanghai.

The World No. 2 is still in contention for the year-end No. 1 position. He trails Rafael Nadal by 1,660 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London and would need to win the title in Basel and also lift the trophy at both the Rolex Paris Masters and Nitto ATP Finals.

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Dodig/Granollers To Face Frenchmen In Doubles Final
Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers completed a 7-5, 6-3 semi-final win over American duo Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock. The Croatian-Spanish pair are into their third final of the season and will look to add a second title (Rotterdam). Granollers won the Basel crown with Sock last year.

They will face Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, after the Frenchmen rallied past Marcus Daniell and Dominic Inglot 3-6, 6-3, 13/11, saving two match points. It is their first final as a team.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has gone from the fringe of the Emirates ATP Race To London to the thick of the battle in less than two weeks, as he continues his push to qualify for a third Nitto ATP Finals.

The Frenchman helped his cause by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber, 7-6(4), 7-5 in the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open 500 on Saturday in Vienna to advance to his third final at the event and his fifth final this season.

“I’m playing well. I’m playing good tennis,” Tsonga said. “Truly happy with my level this week…tomorrow it’s the final and only the winner [of the final] counts so I will give my best to be the winner.”

Tsonga, who was 22nd in the Race at the beginning of last week, has surged into contention with a title in Antwerp and now his appearance in the Vienna final. He has moved into 14th in the Race, and if he claims the title would have 2,510 points, just 95 points behind Pablo Carreno Busta, who currently holds the final qualifying spot.

It was his 10th win in a row against the German, extending his lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series to 11-1. Tsonga also continued his impressive indoor play, advancing his ATP World Tour-best indoor record this season to 20-2.

In the key moments of the match, it was Tsonga who proved to have too much firepower. Throughout most of the battle, the Frenchman actually allowed Kohlschreiber to dictate play. But when it mattered most he stepped into the court and that paid dividends.

Tsonga fell behind a break in the opening set before immediately evening affairs. He trailed just once in the ensuing tie-break, at 1-2, before claiming six of the next eight points to seal the opener. In the second set there were no breaks until 5-5, when the right-hander laced a forehand return winner on his first of three break opportunities to gain the only advantage he needed, closing out the match with an ace.

“I served really well. It’s good, gives me confidence when I can serve like this,” Tsonga said. “Hopefully it will continue like this tomorrow.”

Tsonga will face compatriot Lucas Pouille in the final, after the 23-year-old right-hander came back to defeat Kyle Edmund in three sets earlier on Saturday. It will be a rematch of this year’s Marseille final, as Tsonga took out the up-and-comer to clinch one of his four titles on the year. He has beaten Pouille in both of their FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, winning all four sets 6-4. 

“It’s going to be special, because he’s the new generation. I will not say I’m the old one, but I’m the older generation,” Tsonga joked. “It’s going to be a good match.”

Pouille Falls Short Of Second Final

After advancing to the singles final, Pouille had an opportunity to reach the doubles final as well with #NextGenATP Karen Khachanov. But Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters champions Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas defeated the French-Russian duo, 7-6(2), 6-4 to move on to their second final as a team this season.

Bopanna and Cuevas will face Marcelo Demoliner and Sam Querrey, who received a walkover in the semi-final as Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic had to withdraw due to Marach’s back injury. Demoliner and Querrey defeated Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, the second seeds, in the second round.

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Lucas Pouille is doing his best to enter the 2018 season with a surge of momentum at his back. A first ATP World Tour 500 final appearance will go a long way.

Pouille rallied past Kyle Edmund 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday’s first semi-final at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. The World No. 25 reached his sixth ATP World Tour final and fourth of the year. He will look to add a hard-court crown to victories on the clay of Budapest and grass of Stuttgart, when he faces either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Philipp Kohlschreiber on Sunday.

It marks the second straight year a Frenchman will appear in the Vienna final, following Tsonga’s runner-up finish to Andy Murray in 2016. Having dropped just one set en route to the championship, Pouille is in strong form in his quest to go one step further.

More aggressive from the baseline and striking his forehand with authority, Edmund had Pouille on defence often in the first set. He would earn the lone break points of the opener – six in total. While Pouille did well to turn them all aside and surge to a 4/0 lead in the ensuing tie-break, Edmund exhibited nerves of steel to claw back, striking a backhand winner down the line for 4-all. After denying a pair of set points, the 22 year old launched a forehand winner – his 11th of the set – to take the dramatic tie-break 9/7.

As clutch as Edmund was in the first set, a sloppy service game to open the second was all Pouille needed to seize the initiative. The Frenchman grabbed the quick break as momentum abruptly swung to his side of the court. Suddenly, he was the aggressor, forcing a decider and striking a forehand winner for the decisive break in the third set. Pouille advanced to the final after a gripping two hours and 17 minutes.

Pouille fired 36 winners, to Edmund’s 26, and launched 13 aces in what was their third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. All three encounters have come this year, with the Frenchman also taking a Davis Cup quarter-final clash in straight sets.

With Tsonga contesting the second semi-final, it marked the first time in tournament history (since 1974) that a pair of Frenchman are featuring in the last four in the Austrian capital.

Pouille’s day is not done just yet. The 23-year-old is also in the doubles semi-finals, teaming with Karen Khachanov against Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas to conclude play on Saturday.

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