Federer wins Basel semifinal

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BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Roger Federer Saturday needed two tie-breakers to beat Ivo Karlovic in the semifinals at the Swiss Indoors Tennis Tournament at Basel, Switzerland.

The scores of the match were 7-6 (7-5) and 7-6 (7-5).

Sunday, he will face Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 winner against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

Federer was unable to break the serve of the 6-foot-10 inch Karlovic at key spots, but improved to 51-2 in his last 53 matches, and recorded the 545th match win in his career.

He was playing before another packed and enthusiastic home crowd, and will play in this event's final a fourth time.

Karlovic had 16 service aces to 10 by Federer, but failed to convert two critical break points in the final two sets.

"It will be a great experience to play (Federer) on his home court," Nieminen said. "Sometimes it feels like he is not a human, but he is and every match starts from 0-0."