Faltering Federer stumbles into hometown quarter-finals

By Mark Ledsom

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Roger Federer stuttered into the quarter-finals of his hometown tournament in Basel on Thursday after an unexpectedly tough 7-6 7-6 second round win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.

Nieminen, the world number 29, came into the match having lost all nine of his previous meetings with Federer and without having taken a set off the Swiss.

He came agonisingly close to breaking that hoodoo on Thursday, however, fighting back from 3-1 down to lead 5-3 in the opening set.

Federer, looking strangely out of sorts throughout the match, even handed his opponent two set points but they proved to be the last with the world number two pulling himself back from the brink with an ace and a forehand winner.

He promptly broke back to level as Nieminen served for the set before squeezing through the subsequent tiebreak 8-6.

Federer seemed back in control after breaking 3-2 ahead in the second set but slipped up again three games later to send the encounter into another tiebreak.

This time though he made no mistakes, winning six points in a row to clinch the tiebreak 7-1.

"I think the great record I have against him definitely helped me when it came to the big points," said a relieved looking Federer.