Basel:
Top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal raced through their Swiss Indoors assignments, 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. 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 quarter-finals.
Federer was glad to have saved his energy as he heads into what could be a blockbuster end of season comprising next week’s Paris Masters, the World Tour Finals, a Davis Cup final against France and a shot at taking back the number one ranking from Novak Djokovic.
“I didn’t feel like it would go fast, I thought it would be tough,” said Federer of his lightning victory. “I didn’t have an early read on his serve, had a few tough service games, and put myself under some pressure.
“But I took my opportunity at 3-2. Once I was in the lead I got a sense of how to serve and how aggressive I needed to play. I took control from the baseline. Once I got the break in the second set, I knew it would be hard for him. It was a great first round for me.
“It was great not to have wasted any energy. I have a lot of tennis to play in the next few weeks. I felt the first match (in his title victory at Shanghai) for several days in my body. Now I can relax and and attack again tomorrow (against Uzbek Denis Istomin).”
Second seed Nadal, who last played the Basel event in 2004 and returned with a 0-2 record to the St Jakobshalle, needed just 56 minutes to beat French qualifier Herbert.
