Federer cruises past Seppi to reach Basel quarters

BASEL, Switzerland (AP)—Roger Federer reached the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors by beating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday.

The three-time defending champion was solid on serves to make it six matches against the 51st-ranked Seppi without dropping a set.

“It was a bit tougher (than the first round), but I was able to raise my game at a few crucial moments and that was the difference,” said Federer, who rested through October.

“I recuperated and worked a bit to get in shape and can play maybe this (late) season in good health, which last year wasn’t the case.”

Fifth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat France’s Florent Serra 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (1) to also advance.

In the first round, fourth-seeded Marin Cilic beat Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-4, 6-4 to keep alive his chances of qualifying for the ATP Tour finals in London.

The 21-year-old Croat, a wild-card entry, likely needs to win the Swiss Indoors and do well at the Paris Masters next week to make the eight-player lineup at London. He is 12th.

Third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez began play 10th on the list, but the Chilean lost 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 to John Isner of the United States in a late match.

Isner’s victory against the 2005 Basel champion ended a run of three straight first-round exits in the past month.

Another contender for London, No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has an injured left wrist and retired from his match Wednesday at the tournament in Valencia, Spain.

In other first-round action, Stanislas Wawrinka rallied to beat Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.

The sixth-seeded Swiss was treated for a shoulder injury after the first set. Ljubicic was the last man to beat Federer at his home event in 2003.

Jeremy Chardy toughed out a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-4 victory over seventh seed James Blake from the United States.

The 22-year-old Frenchman had 24 aces and got the only service break of the match to open the third set.

“It was a beautiful victory,” Chardy said, who is on course to meet Federer in the quarterfinals. “I could have won the match earlier, but James is a good player and like all good players he made some good shots at important times.”

Richard Gasquet of France defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6 (3), 6-4.