2015 Swiss Indoors Basel: Rafael Nadal to play Marin Cilic for a spot in the semis

Rafael Nadal beat Grigor Dimitrov in three sets to advance in the last eight of the 2015 Swiss Indoors Basel event. The Spanish will play Marin Cilic on Friday for a spot in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Masters 500 tournament.

The upcoming quarterfinal match will be the first time in three years that Nadal and Cilic will play on tour. Their last meeting took place all the way back in 2011 in the quarterfinals of the Rome Open, where the Spaniard won straight sets, 6-1 6-3.

Nadal has already played six sets in the tournament. He survived an opening round scare against unseeded Czech Lukas Rosol, who pushed him to three sets, 1-6 7-5 7-6(4). Against another unseeded player Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, Nadal was again pushed to playing three sets to further progress in the tournament. He extended his winning streak against Dimitrov to seven 6-4 4-6 6-3 to set up clash with the 2014 U.S. Open champion.

Cilic has played four sets in Basel. He dismissed local favourite wild card Marco Chiudinelli in his opener, 6-3 7-6(3). The seventh seed Croat then scored another straight-sets victory over Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in the second round, 6-3 6-1.

The winner between Nadal and Cilic will play either Richard Gasquet or Ivo Karlovic in the semifinals. Gasquet marched on to the quarterfinals with victories over Jiri Vesely in the first round 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4 and Dominic Thiem in the second round 7-6(7) 6-4.

Roger Federer is the defending champion. The Swiss has also advanced in the last eight and will face his nemesis last year, David Goffin, next in his bid to win a seventh title at the tournament in his hometown. The other quarterfinal match features Americans Donald Young, who upset fourth seed Kevin Anderson 6-2 7-6(8), and Jack Sock, who beat his compatriot John Isner 7-6(7) 6-3 in the second round.

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