Federer, Delpo, Gasquet Make Basel Semis

The tournament's top three seeds, along with wildcard Paul-Henri Mathieu, make the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors event in Basel.

By Chris Oddo

Roger Federer Breezes Past Paire in Basel

(October 26, 2012)--Roger Federer made short work of Frenchman Benoit Paire on Friday, racing past the World No. 46 in 54 minutes, 6-2, 6-2.

Federer, bidding to win his sixth Basel title, won 24 of 25 first serve points and did not face a break point against Paire in his first career meeting with the Frenchman.

Federer, who won his last 17 matches of 2011, will need to finish on another hot streak if he is to retain the No. 1 year-end ranking over Novak Djokovic.

Federer currently holds a slim 195-point lead over the Serb.

Federer will face Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in Saturday’s semifinals at the Swiss Indoors. The French wildcard took out Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), but has yet to win in five previous matches against Federer, losing 13 of 14 sets in the process.

Second-seeded Juan Martin del Potro also reached the semifinals on Friday, as he fought off 20 aces from Kevin Anderson to win 306, 7-6(3), 6-2.

Despite Anderson’s booming serve, Del Potro found a way to turn the match in his favor and finally converted his only two service breaks of the day in the final set to prevail. The win earns the Argentine his 60th match of the year against 14 losses.

Del Potro will face Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the semifinals. Third-seeded Gasquet denied sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny his 400th career win with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory.

The victory was Gasquet’s third win over Youzhny in their seven career battles.

Youzhny was bidding to become the fourth Russian to reach the 400th win plateau, with Yevgeny Kafelnikov (609), Nikolay Davydenko (454) and Marat Safin (422).

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SWISS INDOORS BASEL

Basel, Switzerland

October 22-28, 2012

€1,404,300/ATP World Tour 500

Surface: Hard/Indoor

Tournament Website: Basel Swiss Indoors | Live Scores | Draws | TV Schedule

RESULTS -- FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012

Singles - Quarterfinals
[1] R Federer (SUI) d B Paire (FRA) 62 62
[2] J Del Potro (ARG) d K Anderson (RSA) 36 76(3) 62
[3] R Gasquet (FRA) d [6] M Youzhny (RUS) 62 76(5)
[WC] P Mathieu (FRA) d G Dimitrov (BUL) 76(2) 76(4)

Doubles - Quarterfinals
[1] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d L Kubot (POL) / A Seppi (ITA) 76(2) 64
D Bracciali (ITA) / F Cermak (CZE) d K Anderson (RSA) / V Troicki (SRB) 57 75 10-5
T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) d [Alt] R Haase (NED) / D Norman (BEL) 76(5) 64

ORDER OF PLAY -- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012

CENTRE COURT start 12:30 pm
[4] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) vs T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR)

Not Before 2:30 PM
[3] R Gasquet (FRA) vs [2] J Del Potro (ARG)
[1] R Federer (SUI) vs [WC] P Mathieu (FRA)
[1] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs D Bracciali (ITA) / F Cermak (CZE)

(Photo Credit: AP)