Federer and Nadal clinical in Basle

rogerfederer

The top seed delighted the home crowd at the ATP 500 event with a dominant 6-2 6-1 victory as Federer bids for a sixth title in Basle.

Federer never gave Muller a chance, losing just four points on serve and winning 20 of 21 first-serve points.

The world number two, who defeated Muller on four previous occasions, has made the perfect start as he attempts a late-season bid to topple Novak Djokovic at the top of the world rankings.

After claiming his 23rd ATP 1000 title at the Shanghai Masters last week, Federer can move to within 500 points of Djokovic by winning in Basle, and still has points available for tournaments in Paris and the ATP World Tour Finals.

Next up for Federer, a runner-up the past two years, is a second-round clash with Denis Istomin, who effortlessly defeated Jerzy Janowicz 6-1 6-1.

Elsewhere in round one, 17-year-old wildcard Borna Coric earned the biggest win of his career after defeating sixth seed Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 and he now meets Andrey Golubev, who overcame Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 6-3.

Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov will also contest round two after he came from a set down to defeat wildcard Alexander Zverev 2-6 6-4 6-2.

In round two, world number three Rafael Nadal clinically disposed of Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-1 6-1 in under an hour to reach the quarter-finals.

The Spaniard hit 15 winners, but in truth Herbert accounted for his own downfall in a disjointed display that saw him record 11 double faults and 30 unforced errors.

David Goffin is also in the last Pierre-Hugues Herbert ight after the seventh seed defeated Ivan Dodig 7-6 (7-0) 6-4. 

 

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