Top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal raced through their Swiss Indoors assignments on Wednesday, spending under an hour each on court and dropping just five games between them.
Federer, chasing a sixth title on his home court, defeated Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, pounding down a ninth ace for three match points and converting on the first to wrap up a flawless performance in 46 minutes.
The Swiss now stands 52-9 at the stadium where he got his start in the game as a ballboy two decades ago.
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He has played the last eight Basel finals and appeared in the title match on 10 of 15 occasions.
Second seed Nadal shrugged off his impending date with appendix surgery by routing outclassed Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals.
Coric, tipped for a bright future, upset Latvian sixth seed Ernests Gulbis 7-6(2), 6-3 while Golubev advanced over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-3.
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Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov maintained his slim chances of a possible ATP World Tour Finals place by defeating promising German teenager Alexander Zverev, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The results: At Basel: On Thursday: Second round: Benjamin Becker bt Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 4-0, retd.; Borna Coric bt Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-4.
On Wednesday: Second round: David Goffin bt Ivan Dodig 7-6(0), 6-4; Rafael Nadal bt Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-1, 6-1. First round: Roger Federer bt Gilles Muller 6-2, 6-1; Denis Istomin bt Jerzy Janowicz 6-1, 6-1; Grigor Dimitrov bt Alexander Zverev 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Coric bt Ernests Gulbis 7-6(2), 6-3; Golubev bt Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-3.
On Tuesday: First round: Kukushkin bt Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-3; Milos Raonic bt Steve Johnson 7-6(4), 6-4; Ivo Karlovic bt Lukas Rosol 7-6(4), 6-3; Kenny De Schepper bt Federico Delbonis 7-6(3), 7-5.
At Valencia: On Thursday: Second round: Pablo Andujar bt Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-2; Andy Murray bt Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4; Jeremy Chardy bt Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5; Kevin Anderson w.o. Martin Klizan; Thomaz Belluci w.o. Roberto Bautista-Agut.
On Wednesday: Second round: Pablo Carreno Busta bt Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4; Tommy Robredo bt Lu Yen-Hsun 6-2, 6-4.