BASEL (SWITZERLAND), Oct 26: Roger Federer won his 17th consecutive match at the Swiss Indoors on Thursday, dispatching Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals.
The top seed, unbeaten in Basel since 2013, is an eight-time winner of his home event and will next play Frenchman Gilles Simon, who defeated Latvia�s Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/0).
Federer admitted he was not satisfied with his slow start, going down a break in the third game.
�I didn�t really get into the game. It�s been a long time since I�ve played a match without being broken. I have to improve in the next round.�
The 37-year-old, ranked third in the world, trailed to the early break but soon recovered for 3-all in the opening set. He then broke for 5-3 before closing out the opener in 27 minutes.
The second set stayed on serve until a fifth double-fault from Struff, which opened the door for Federer to move 6-5 ahead.
Moments later, the 20-time Grand Slam champion served out a 41st victory of the season with a volley into the empty court on his first match point.
�It was a lot of rocky start, I had to clean up my game, I�m happy about that,� Federer said.
�There were a lot of quick points � one or two shots max. There was no rhythm, it was a sprint on the majority of points. I did a little better than him I guess, that was the goal for today.� � AFP