By Chris Oddo | Thursday October 25, 2018
Roger Federer seems to be finding his groove at his hometown event.
The Swiss, who had to really scratch and claw to get past Filip Krajinovic in his first match on Tuesday night in Basel (he faced fourteen break points and was broken four times), found his game relatively early on Thursday and eased past Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-3, 7-5.
It was a much better serving performance for the Swiss, who dropped just seven first-serve points and only faced one break point (though he still only managed a first-serve percentage of 53 percent).
The forehand was also in fine fettle as the 37-year-old cracked nine forehand winners and routinely kept Struff guessing as he probed for openings off that wing.
It wasn’t easy for the Swiss at the onset, however.
Federer fell behind by a break early and needed to lift his game in order to take command of the 28-year-old World No.52.
He did just that, reeling off the final five games of the opener to create some breathing room, and while the second set remained tight until the 11th game, it was Federer who was able to engineer the pivotal break before serving out the victory to love.
Federer has now won 17 consecutive tilts at the St. Jakobshalle, and the eight-time champion and 13-time finalist now owns a lifetime record of 68-9 at Basel.
Federer will continue his bid for the title on Friday when he faces either Gilles Simon or Ernests Gulbis.
Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Zverev Power Through
In other action on Thursday at Basel, main draw debutant Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his winning ways with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Peter Gojowczyk of Germany. Tsitsipas, now 41-25 on the season, fired 10 aces and didn’t surrender a break of serve.
Also making his Basel debut is Daniil Medvedev, and the Russian continues his fine form with a 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Andreas Seppi of Italy. The Russian improved to 41-22 on the season and will face Tsitsipas for a semifinal spot, with the winner to potentially face Federer in the last four.
Second-seeded Alexander Zverev advanced to the quarterfinals in the lower half of the draw with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin. Zverev dropped just eight points on serve and will face Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinals.