Goffin closes in on ATP Finals, Del Potro through in Basel
David Goffin took another stride towards the ATP Finals by easing past Chung Hyeon to reach the Swiss Indoors Basel quarter-finals and Juan Martin del Potro battled his way into the second round.
Goffin is in pole position for one of the two remaining spots in the season-ending tournament in London next month and remained on course to play at the O2 Arena with a 6-4 6-1 victory over the unseeded Chung.
The third seed from Belgium broke three times in each set to get the job done in an hour and nine minutes, setting up a meeting with Jack Sock – a 6-4 2-6 6-4 winner over Robin Haase.
Del Potro is also in with a shout of sealing an unlikely place in the ATP Finals and the two-time Basel champion got past Joao Sousa 6-1 4-6 6-1.
The fourth seed from Argentina, buoyed by winning the Stockholm Open last weekend, failed to hold just the once and won 83 per cent of points on his first serve to reach round two.
Two-time champ survives @delpotrojuan beats Sousa 6-1 4-6 6-1 to move into Basel R2.#swissindoors pic.twitter.com/GB0sikSRKf
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 25, 2017
Roberto Bautista Agut, the sixth seed, was a 6-3 7-6 (7-1) winner over Ryan Harrison and will face Del Potro or Julien Benneteau in the last eight.
Borna Coric and Marton Fucsovics also made it through to the second round.