Federer cruises into Basel quarter-finals
Roger Federer stayed in the hunt for an eighth Swiss Indoors Basel title in his hometown with an emphatic straight-sets victory over Benoit Paire on Thursday.
The top seed, eyeing a seventh title of the year after his Shanghai Masters triumph, put on another show for his adoring fans to ease into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-3 win.
Federer was a cut above the unseeded Paire, who showed flashes of his ability and made a fist of it in the second set, but endured a frustrating evening against the world number two.
The 19-time grand slam champion toyed with the Frenchman and did not face a solitary break point in a one-sided match which he won in just 57 minutes, setting up a meeting with Denis Shapovalov or Adrian Mannarino in the last eight.
A dominant Federer broke to love in the second game of the match to set the tone and again to lead 5-1, going on to secure another two breaks in the second set with an array of elegant groundstrokes in another routine win.
Easy does it for @rogerfederer
Federer beats Paire 6-1 6-3 in under an hour.#swissindoors pic.twitter.com/vO2XrfF1JQ
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 26, 2017
Juan Martin del Potro enhanced his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals by ousting qualifier Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-4.
The fourth seed from Argentina was back in 47th in the Race to London just two months ago, but can move up to eighth spot with a tournament win in Basel following Pablo Carreno Busta’s loss to Diego Schwartzman in the Vienna Open.
Defending champion Marin Cilic battled his way through in Basel with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over fellow Croatian Borna Coric.
Cilic will now take on Marton Fucsovics, who won the first three games of his second-round match before Leonardo Mayer retired due to illness.
