Novak Djokovic fought back from losing the first set to beat Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals Friday. The top-ranked Djokovic had his serve broken twice early on before recovering to seal a victory that took his record against Baghdatis to 6-0, and raised his 2011 record to 67-3. “I started slowly, no life on the court, and he took his chances,” said Djokovic, playing his first tournament after a six-week break to heal a back injury. “My body is still getting used to this competition mode. I have to stay patient.” The US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open champion will play 32nd-ranked Kei Nishikori of Japan in Saturday's semifinals. Nishikori beat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in a match that featured 13 breaks of serve. In other quarterfinals action, defending champion Roger Federer was playing Andy Roddick of the United States; and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland faced Florian Mayer of Germany. Djokovic came to Basel having not played since Sept. 18, and was pushed to three sets for the second time in three matches. “It's nothing I didn't expect, but I'm winning matches and that is what matters most,” Djokovic said. The 59th-ranked Baghdatis broke the top-seeded Serb's serve, and struck six aces in dominating the first set. Djokovic broke through for a 4-2 lead in the second after the Cypriot double-faulted. Djokovic commanded the rest of the match, sealing victory in exactly one hour less than Nishikori's two-hour, 39-minute effort. Neither Nishikori nor 113th-ranked Kukushkin could land half of their first serves, however the 21-year-old Japanese took his first match-point chance with just his second ace. With his three victories in Basel, Nishikori will rise to a career-best ranking and highest by a Japanese man. He had been No. 30 after reaching the Shanghai Masters semifinals last month.
