BASEL, Switzerland -- Vasek Pospisil will face off against Swiss star Roger Federer in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors on Saturday, with the Canadian hoping to be fit after surprising himself with a 7-6 (11), 6-4 quarter-final defeat of Ivan Dodig. Pospisil, ranked 40th in the world, admitted that he was shocked to have finished the tough one-hour 45-minute match with Dodig after being unable to move his neck the morning of the match. "I woke up fine at 7:00 but then fell back asleep and slept in a bad position for 90 minute from 8:00 to 9:30," said Pospisil. "I couldnt move my neck to the left. "I honestly didnt know if Id be able to play at all," said the rising star who has reached all three of his career ATP semifinals (Bogata, Montreal and Basel) this breakthrough season. "I had a lot of treatment and painkillers. "It was still bothering me on every single shot, especially the serve and forehand. But the trainer told me I couldnt make it worse so I gave everything I had. Im still very surprised that it held up as well as it did, frankly. Its shocking." Federer beat Pospisil in their only other meeting in Montreal two years ago, but the young player from Vancouver is excited to get another chance at the Swiss icon. "It will be incredible to play him, it will be one of the highlights of my career," Pospisil said. "Playing him in his hometown will make it even more special. It will be a very special match for me." Pospisil needed nearly an hour to win the gruelling first set against Croatias Dodig. The tiebreaker created stress on both sides of the net, with Pospisil saving three set points and finally converting for the win on his own fourth set-winning opportunity. In the second set, Pospisil broke for a 3-2 set lead only to lose it a game later. But Pospisil dug in to break Dodig again for a 5-4 lead. He finished off the victory a game later on his second match point as Dodig hit the net with a return. "It was really tough to concentrate," said the injured winner. "Its very draining to play that way. But Im really thrilled to go through like this." Pospisil is hoping to improve his ranking enough this weekend and next week in Paris at the last event of the regular season to reach the top 32, which would guarantee a seeding for the Australian Open." He said the trainer told him his condition is a two or three-day affair, with the first day the worst. He is expecting no physical problems when he plays for a spot in the his first ATP final at the weekend. But he admitted that the situation was a close call. "I could not have played a 1 p.m. (match)," he said. "But two hours later I was loose enough to be able to serve almost normally, thanks to all the treatment."" 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You lay it all out on paper and you say, This is what we want to do and we want to race for wins and championships, and all of a sudden youre a week away from everything that you talk about and dream about.Hell race Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the championship. The title will be decided by finishing order, and all four will be vying for their first championship.The championship field does not include Gordon or Brad Keselowski, who along with Harvick were the most dominant drivers all season. Keselowski has won a series-best six races, Gordon has won four times and led the points most of the season, and both showed the intensity of this new elimination-style Chase for the Sprint Cup championship with a pit road brawl last week that left both former champions bloodied.A disappointed Gordon said the on-track aggression and off-track intensity at Homestead will make Texas and the last month of racing look tame.If it was that ugly the past few weeks, its going to be real ugly next week, Gordon said.There were no fights following this race, but it was still intense as the championship field flipped and flopped with every lap. The most shocking change came after Gordon had crossed the finish line in second behind Harvick and thought he was in. Instead, Ryan Newman, needed one more position to bump Gordon out of the final four. He ran Kyle Larson high up the track to get the rookie out of his way to claim an 11th-place finish that put Newman in the Chase.I didnt take him out, Newman said. In a day or two, hell understand. Its hard to rationalize that, but I did what I had to do. I dont like racing that way.Gordon wound up missing the final by one point to Newman. He was tied with Harvick in the standings, but Harvick earned the automatic berth for his victory.Thats the system we have, Gordon said. I mean, I could have taken out Harvick, too, to make it in. But I didnt.Also eliminated Sunday were Matt Kenseth, who finished third, Keselowski, who needed to win to make it in but finished fourth, and Carl Edwards, who wwas 15th.ddddddddddddt was a devastating blow for Keselowski, who won a race in each of the first two rounds of the Chase. But he fell into a hole because of a mechanical problem at Martinsville in the first event of this three-race round that he couldnt recover from despite strong finishes at Texas and Phoenix.His mettle was definitely tested, too, as his aggressive driving style angered his competitors and led to two fights in four races. He was fined $50,000 for his post-race behaviour at Charlotte last month — actions that caused Kenseth to jump him from behind in the garage — and he and Gordon were both bloodied when the drivers and the teams brawled on pit road after last weeks race at Texas.We gave it all we had, it was a strong run, it just wasnt enough to advance, Keselowski said. We did everything but win. We broke down in Martinsville and it was a huge hurdle to overcome and it was probably going to take a win. Fourth wasnt going to be enough, and we knew that coming in.What everyone else knew all weekend was that Harvick probably had the field covered.His win Sunday was his fourth of the season in his No. 4 Chevrolet and reaffirmed that hes very difficult to beat at Phoenix. Harvick swept the season here, has won four of the last five races and the last three fall races.His 2012 victory came the same weekend news broke he was leaving Childress at the end of the 2013 season, and his win last year provided one final hurrah with the only team hed ever driven for in the Cup series.You can pretty much sum this whole year up as Holy cow, Harvick said. Its definitely the best position that, myself personally, Ive ever been in.His competitors next Sunday all had to sweat it out to make it into the finale.Newman needed the last-lap pass, while Hamlin and Logano both had issues early in the race that forced them to come back from a lap down and then drive through the field. Hamlin finished fifth and Logano sixth.Hamlin, the defending winner at Homestead, loves his chances. He lost the 2010 championship to Jimmie Johnson because of a sub-par finish in the final, and he said hes far more prepared to handle the pressure this week.I feel pretty optimistic, said Hamlin, a one-time winner this season. Love it, love the opportunity. Were on house money now, so lets go have fun.Logano, a five-time winner this season, will be racing to give Team Penske a sweep on the season. Roger Penske already won the IndyCar championship in September, and now his young driver can make it 2-for-2.Its all about how good your team is, and I feel like Ive got the best team, Logano said. ' ' '