HOME-TOWN dominance is a matter of some pride for Roger Federer, particularly in a venue that shortly will be given his name and where he used to work as a ball boy. The world No 1 will today bid to win the tournament for the fourth time in succession when he takes on Novak Djokovic in the final of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Championships in Basel.

Playing in his first ATP World Tour tournament since losing the US Open final nearly two months ago, Federer cruised through to the seventh Basel final of his career with a 7-6 6-3 win over fellow Swiss Marco Chiudinelli. The pair have been friends since childhood although Chiudinelli is ranked 72 places lower and there was little room for compassion as the top seed cruised through in the St Jakobshalle Arena which is soon to be re-named the Roger Federer Arena following a planned renovation.

But while Federer was engrossed in matters purely Swiss, comfortable in the knowledge he has long since qualified for the year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals that begin in London’s 02 Arena in a fortnight, Djokovic was effectively killing off any hopes Radek Stepanek might have had of staging a late run to snatch a place among the world’s top eight players who will contest the event.

Many of those threatening Davydenko’s place among the world’s top eight for the year-ending event have fallen by the wayside in the past couple of days. Yet none of those unfortunate contenders will feel the same frustration as Stepanek who allowed three match points to go to waste in the semi-final against Djokovic. “I wouldn't say necessarily it was my good shots that prevented the loss. It was luck only,” Djokovic said. “I tried to get first serves in. On this hard-court surface, it’s crucial.”

Djokovic, world No 3 and defending champion when the action begins at London’s 02 Arena in a fortnight’s time by virtue of his success at last year’s Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, moved to his ninth final of 2009 by holding firm in the face of defeat before prevailing 6-7 7-5 6-2.

Stepanek squandered the first match point with a double fault before Djokovic, the player sporting the best post-US Open record after winning all but one of his 14 matches since losing the New York semi-final to Federer, came up with two winners. After seeming determined to keep himself in with a chance of qualifying for the season’s finale for the first time, Stepanek then seemed to lose focus. He had started the week placed 14th in the race and knew only a tournament win would keep his chances alive.

However things had taken a distinct turn for the better when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, situated three places higher, succumbed to injury problems in both wrists and was forced to retire in his opening match in Valencia. Gilles Simon is another Frenchman who, like Tsonga, merited a place among the eight last year in Shanghai but his aspirations of a trip across the English Channel effectively ended when he lost 6-4 6-4 in the Valencia quarter-final to Youznhy.

Then Stepanek, already guaranteed a place in the upcoming Davis Cup final in Barcelona against holders Spain, ended the chances of another hopeful, the Croatian Marin Cilic, who seemed to have hit a rich vein of autumnal form after producing one of the best performances of his career in knocking Andy Murray out of the US Open.

Cilic reached last week’s final in Vienna and closed to within 800 points of Fernando Verdasco, who currently occupies eighth place in the tussle to make it to London. The Croat had feared the worst after losing Friday’s quarter-final 4-6 6-3 6-3 to Stepanek and the news from Spain that Verdasco had beaten Tommy Robredo ended his hopes.

Now the tour heads to Paris for the concluding Masters 1000 series event of the year at the subterranean Palais de Omnisports on the banks of the River Seine at Bercy. Robin Soderling, whose last trip to the city saw him reach the French Open final in June, maintains he is sufficiently fit to bolster his hopes from ninth position after suffering elbow problems so severe that he was forced to withdraw from the Stockholm Open semi-final two weeks ago.

Curiously, he is placed in Davydenko’s section of the draw at Bercy while Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, Murray’s assailant at Roland Garros, can expect a meeting with US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who has yet to register another win since his New York triumph but is already guaranteed a London place.

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