BASEL, Switzerland – Top-ranked Novak Djokovic rallied past Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors.
Djokovic had his service broken twice early before recovering to improve his record to 67-3 this season and 6-0 overall against Baghdatis.
The U.S. 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 had 13 breaks of serve.
"(Novak) is playing on a different level," Nishikori said. "I am going to try to be more aggressive than usual."
Also, defending champion Roger Federer will play Andy Roddick, and Stanislas Wawrinka will face Florian Mayer in the other quarterfinals.
Djokovic is returning from a back injury that sidelined him since Sept. 18. He was pushed to three sets for the second time in three matches. The 59th-ranked Baghdatis immediately broke the Serb's serve and had six aces in dominating the first set.
Djokovic broke through for a 4-2 lead in the second after the Cypriot double-faulted. Djokovic cruised the rest of the match.
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