Roger Federer continued his march towards an eighth Swiss Indoors title in Basel by swatting aside Frenchman Benoit Paire in straight sets on Thursday.
The Swiss world No 2 swept through the opening set in just 23 minutes at the St Jakobshalle, winning 70 per cent of points on his first serve, and he then broke Paire's resistance in seventh game of the next set before closing the match out in under an hour without facing a break point.
"I'm happy with how it went, I'm always ready for a tougher one," Federer said. "I got a good start, got rolling. I was able to put more pressure on him than him on me. I've had a good two first rounds. I thought the draw looked tough with [Francis] Tiafoe and Paire in my section. I'm a little surprised, to be honest.
"It's not easy to win 1 and 3 indoors, this was a great start."
The 36-year-old Federer, winner of his last event in Shanghai this month, is seeking an ATP-leading seventh title this season as he aims for a weekend final in his hometown.
Marin Cilic, who will join Federer in London having confirmed his spot at the season-ending ATP Finals earlier this week, needed three sets to defeat fellow Croatian Borna Coric 6-3 3-6 6-3.
The Wimbledon finalist will now meet Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics who advanced to the last eight as Argentine Leonardo Mayer quit when trailing 3-0 in the first set.
Sky Sports has all the action from the Erste Bank Open in Vienna and Swiss Indoors Basel this week before the Paris Masters.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza World Tour Finals at London's O2 in November end another memorable year which will be covered via our website sky.mnosports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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